How families of hostages and thousands of volunteers came together to bring them home

Hamas attack hostages mission ends after 843 days as Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum completes goal with return of last hostage Ran Gvili.

Omer Tuval served as head of international media at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum

And less than 24 hours later, the families of those hostages, who themselves were living an unimaginable nightmare, did something. They didn't wait for instructions or for government officials. They came together and established the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a citizen-based organization with one goal: bring every hostage home, regardless of religion, race or gender. From day one, its goal was also to shut its doors as quickly as possible. We thought it would take a couple of months. It took 843 days.

In the days that followed, people from all walks of Israeli society and around the world came to help. That's what so many did. They just tried to find ways of helping. That's how I found myself walking into a building in central Tel Aviv and joining the international media team. Thousands of others did the same across the forum: diplomats, former ambassadors, doctors, lawyers, media professionals and academics. People who couldn't sit idly by.