“Hostage clock” turns off as Israel receives final remains

The clock that has loomed over a Tel Aviv square, counting every second since Hamas kidnapped 251 Israelis on October 7, 2023, was turned off on the night of January 27 during a solemn ceremony attended by hundreds.

After 843 days and 12 hours, Israelis at "Hostages Square" marked the end of a crisis, ushering in a new chapter in a fragile ceasefire between the Israeli military and Hamas militants that has held for nearly four months, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

“We are here on a day we prayed for since October 7 for 844 days. The clock kept running, counting every day, every minute, every second,” said Malki Shem-Tov, father of former captive Omer Shem-Tov, speaking from the podium beneath the frozen clock.

The clock was officially retired a day after Israeli forces recovered the body of Ran Gvili, a young police officer killed on October 7, and the last remaining hostage in Gaza.

Now, for the first time since 2014, there are no Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced.

The square, located beneath the high-rise Kirya building, home to Israel’s defence establishment, gave hostages’ families and activists a weekly platform to demand that Israel’s government bring the hostages home, even if it required concessions to Hamas. 

Major foreign and domestic television news networks, including NBC News, hosted prime-time programs from pavilions on the square.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas‑linked militants launched a large‑scale assault across the Israel–Gaza border, killing over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 251 people, including civilians and soldiers, taking them into the Gaza Strip. These captives included Israeli citizens and some foreign nationals.

Over the subsequent months and years, many hostages were released through negotiated ceasefire deals or military recoveries, with around 147 freed alive and 45 bodies returned before the final phase of exchanges.

By January 2026, following ceasefire arrangements, all remaining Israeli hostages had been released or their remains repatriated, marking a symbolic end to the crisis.

The hostage crisis became central to international negotiations, with exchanges often tied to the release of Palestinian prisoners and pauses in the broader Israel‑Hamas conflict.

By Jeyhun Aghazada