The clock in Hostages Square, which has been counting the seconds, minutes, hours, and days since October 7, 2023, stopped at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The clock's original purpose was to mark the amount of time that the Israeli hostages were in captivity after being kidnapped on October 7. During that time, the forum said in a statement, "time itself seemed to stand still for the families and for the entire nation."
The IDF found the remains of the last Israeli hostage from the October 7 invasion, St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Gvili, on Monday at around 2:00 p.m. at al-Batesh cemetery in the Shejaia-Daraj-Tuffah part of northern Gaza. His funeral will be held on Wednesday in his hometown of Meitar.
After over 800 days, the count finally comes to an end
Gvili's return marks the end of the saga of returning all live and deceased hostages taken by Hamas on October 7.
"Today, after 844 days - more than 20,250 hours, over 1,215,000 minutes, and more than 72,920,000 seconds- we can finally bring the counter to an end," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
The clock-stopping ceremony included remarks from Ran Gvili's sister, Shira Gvili, as well as Michel Illouz, whose son Guy was murdered in Hamas captivity, and former hostage Segev Kalfon.
Malki Shem Tov, father of former hostage Omer Shem Tov and co-founder of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, also addressed the crowd, announcing that the forum's mission has been completed. "Thank God, we can finally stop counting," he said.
Shem Tov specifically thanked US President Donald Trump for facilitating events that led to the return of all the hostages.
"We will never forget October 7th," Shem Tov said. "Now is the time to rebuild."