Shift 101, a group led by mothers of hostages and advocating for the hostages through non-violent and non-political protest, gathered Thursday for the fourth day of silent protest.
Dozens gathered outside the entrance to the Prime Minister's Office, sitting in the road and blocking it. The location of the protest has changed each day since they began on Monday, with protesters previously sitting outside the Knesset and the prime minister's Aza Street home previously.
Participants wore white and sat quietly; there was no chanting or drumming at the protests, and organizers emphasized that there was no political message behind the protest that was fully focused on bringing the hostages home.
"There are no words," said Devora Idan, speaking at the protest Thursday. His son Tsachi is held hostage by Hamas, and Tsachi's 18-year-old daughter was murdered on October 7. Last week, Idan's nephew fell in Lebanon.
"We have run out of words," she added. "For a year, in every place, we tried to speak - the words did not bring results. The only way that can bring results is silence, togetherness, and joining us," she said.
"I believe in this quiet protest," said Niva Wenkert, mother of hostage Omer Wenkert, speaking at a Shift 101 protest earlier this week. "The strength of persistence, and determination, and quiet, and [wearing] white, beats everything."
Hostage mother’s protest
"We sat in the middle - a few of the mothers," she said, describing a moment of the protest. "And then you all, everyone who was [here] sat around us, like a protective wrapping - like we were the core and you were circles around us, and it was the first time I felt the true meaning of 'our heart is with you.'"
"Thank you so so so much - truly."
The moment this occurred was when, as part of the demonstrations, the group blocked an intersection they had not been planning to block.
"My heart was going at 200 [beats per minute] because I am a law-abiding person, and in my life have never blocked roads or sat on the ground," she said, explaining that she felt she had to "break her own boundaries," because her son is a hostage.
"After a year, there is no choice," she said.
This moment - scared to block a road and surrounded by protesters supporting her, is what allowed her to feel that she was not alone, she explained.
"I have waited a year for the moment that the call [to bring them home] would come, not from the families of the hostages, but from the people."
It cannot be that there are 101 hostages, and this does not bring the nation out to the streets, she said, calling on participants at the protest to bring more people with them to the next protest to be with the families until all the hostages are brought back.