In Tel Aviv graffiti and posters, the ebb and flow of hopes for hostages

[admin]

Graffiti and campaign posters have turned streets and office towers in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv into a tapestry of the rise and fall of hopes of recovering hostages held in Gaza. With spirits in the usually freewheeling commercial capital dampened by the war between Israel and Hamas, residents have put their energy into the campaign to secure the release of the hostages taken by the Palestinian militants in an Oct 7 raid. Individual portraits of the hostages have been pasted to walls, shopfronts, bollards, parking metres and even municipal rent-a-bikes bereft of riders because of the dearth of Tel Aviv tourism since the war began four months ago.