After 843 days, the clock counting the painful wait for Israel’s hostages has finally stopped

Tal Shalev

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For over two years, it was one of the most powerful symbols at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square: a digital stopwatch, counting every minute, hour, and day since 251 Israelis were abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

On Tuesday, a day after the body of the last Israeli hostage, Ran Gvili, was returned to Israel, the clock counting one of the darkest chapters in the country’s history was finally stopped. After 843 days – more than 20,250 hours, or 1,215,000 minutes – all Israeli hostages, living and dead, were back on home soil.

“Rani is here with us. Not in the way we wished and prayed for, but he is here. Now we can finally pause this clock, and we can start to breathe, to heal, and to mourn,” said Shira Gvili, Ran’s sister. “Just as we promised – until the very last hostage” Gvili said, addressing the croud. “We made it happen, we brought Rani home.”