Tel Aviv Museum plaza becomes Hostages Square in official renaming nearly three years after Oct. 7

The plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art had been known as Hostages Square since the first weeks of the war. On Tuesday, that name became official.

Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality unveiled new signage formally renaming the museum plaza "Hostages Square," nearly three years after Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 attack triggered the war in Gaza. The square had long since become the symbolic center of the nationwide campaign for the release of the hostages, hosting everything from mass protest rallies to weekly Kabbalat Shabbat services, art installations and community vigils.

Mayor Ron Huldai said the decision was meant to preserve the site's role in Israeli history. "The square became a center of solidarity, mutual responsibility, and an uncompromising demand: Bring them, all of them, home," he said.

The name itself had been used by the public for years; Tuesday's change formally recognized that usage. In meeting with hostage family representatives after the unveiling, Huldai said the designation was intended to ensure that the chapter from Oct. 7, 2023, until the return of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, on Jan. 26, 2026, "will be remembered for generations."

Gvili's return came after the ceasefire and hostage release deal signed in October 2025. The square was, once again, a gathering point for Israelis who came to mark the moment. For Huldai, the official renaming now fixes that site in the city's institutional memory.

"A courageous and determined struggle took place here, led by heroic families who did everything to bring their loved ones home," he said. "It is a privilege for Tel Aviv-Jaffa to be the home for these families."

The municipality described the new signage as a promise that the hostages, their families and "the commitment to never give up on anyone" would not be forgotten. The plaza had also been the focal point for the families' ongoing public campaign, sustaining a sense of shared purpose even as the war entered a new phase.

"Now, with the decision to grant the square official status, the municipality seeks to preserve the significance of the site for future generations," Huldai said. "Naming the plaza 'Hostages Square' expresses the commitment to commemorate the place where pain and hope came together and to ensure that the memory of the struggle to bring the hostages home remains an inseparable part of the story of Tel Aviv-Yafo and the State of Israel."

"We will not allow this story to be forgotten, not one letter, not one act, not one breath."