Shira Yoshor (Eric Kleiman Photography)
It took 105 weeks from when the original 251 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by Hamas to when the last 20 living hostages were returned home on Oct. 13. During those 738 days, the hostages suffered in captivity, and the Jewish community around the world prayed for their release and vowed to keep their plight front and center.
One of the ways people spoke out for the hostages was through the Run for Their Lives marches that started in the Bay Area in California and quickly inspired similar events across the country. Once a week, the groups would meet at a set time and location to carry out a one-kilometer walk or run and come together to read out the hostages’ names.
But now that the living hostages have all been returned, the next step for these groups has become uncertain.
“I think that the mission of Run for Their Lives formally concluded with the release of the living hostages, so I think that every chapter is deciding on its own if they’re going to continue to walk,” said Shira Yoshor, the founder of the Philadelphia chapter of Run for Their Lives.
Shira and her daughter Jordie Yoshor organized the first Philadelphia-area march in January 2024 and have raised awareness for the hostages weekly since then, along with a consistent group of attendees.
After news of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal broke over the weekend of Oct. 12, Yoshor said the group met as usual that Sunday, but participants were holding their breath until the hostages were physically back in Israel.
She expressed joy about the hostages being released, while adding that the world can’t forget what these people went through at the hands of Hamas.
“Twenty people were reunited with their loved ones. It’s amazing, and hopefully they’ll start [healing]. They were treated so terribly in captivity. I don’t want the world to forget,” Yoshor said. “Hamas should be held responsible.”
Yoshor said that the group held its last march on Oct. 19, but many people who were involved are looking for ways to continue showing support for the families of the hostages, especially for families still waiting for Hamas to turn over the bodies of the hostages who died in captivity.
She said she’s heard people comment that what they’re doing won’t have any impact on the outcome, but that it’s still important to remember the deceased hostages and support the families of those individuals.
Looking back on the experience of marching weekly for the past 22 months, Yoshor said that the group was fairly well received and didn’t really experience any people antagonizing them. She added that, after the attack on a Run for Their Lives march in Boulder, Colorado, the group got police protection, which members appreciated.
Yoshor said that participating in the marches served multiple purposes.
“I think it’s two-fold. It was in part to help support them [the hostages and their families]. I don’t have any illusions that we were able to accomplish their release, but I hope that we gave a little bit of a feeling of support, which we were certainly glad to do. If we did have that impact, then I’m glad for that. I think for us also as a community, it was a way to gather together and be able to express ourselves in a safe space,” Yoshor said.
She added that she heard stories of hostages learning about the protests on their behalf while in captivity and that the news gave them strength.
Yoshor said she hopes people will continue to advocate for the remaining deceased hostages and contact their representatives in Congress, as well as the White House, to put pressure on everyone, including the United Nations, to fight for the release of their remains.