Thousands of people gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Thursday night to mark 1,000 days since Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and to demand a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the onslaught and massacre.

Protesters also briefly blocked the northbound Ayalon Highway at rush hour ahead of the rally. At least seven protesters were arrested, according to an anti-government volunteer lawyer group.

The rally marked a return to Hostages Square, the plaza that symbolized the struggle to free the 251 captives taken during the October 7 attack, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and launched the Gaza war. The square served as the focal point for demonstrations demanding the hostages’ release until the remains of the last slain captive, Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, were returned in January.

Rom Braslavski, one of the 20 final living hostages who were released on October 13 as part of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire, was greeted with chants of “hero” as he took to the stage to speak.

“I was held in Gaza for two whole years. We’re marking 1,000 days, but for me it’s been an eternity,” he said. “I went through 1,000 lifetimes in 1,000 days.”

Braslavski said his “personal war” against post-traumatic stress disorder “will go on another thousand days, and a thousand days after them, and on until the end of life.”

He vowed to make it his “life’s work” to commemorate the October 7 attack.

‘Exactly 1,000 days ago, my life stopped’

Thursday’s protest was organized by the October Council, an anti-government group comprising hundreds of bereaved famlies, survivors and former hostages taken in the onslaught. The group organized protests at junctions nationwide throughout Thursday starting at 6:29 a.m., the exact moment the Hamas attack began 1,000 days earlier.

The Council has focused its public activity on demanding........

© The Times of Israel