By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — It has been 300 days since some 250 hostages, mostly Israelis, were grabbed and taken hostage during an incursion by Hamas fighters into Israel last Oct. 7.

More than 100 are still thought to be alive and being held in Gaza, and people from Westport and beyond gathered Thursday evening on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge to mark that milestone, and to remind people that the hostages, and their relatives, are still suffering.

“We started this in conjunction with Run for Their Lives,” said Melinda Wasserman, one of the local organizers. “It’s an international organization and I think this is happening at like 250 cities, including as far as Mumbai.”

The crowd numbered somewhere around 150, said Police Chief Foti Koskinas, whose officers monitored the scene.

“It’s important that we remember the hostages in tunnels,” said another local organizer, Jennifer Wolff. “It’s important because there’s so much else going on right now in the Middle East that now people are forgetting that the reason it’s all going on is because is the hostages that have to be released.”

“There shouldn’t be any other conversation until this conversation is had, to get those hostages home,” Wolff said. “And we will march every Sunday, as we do no matter what’s going on.”

The local group has been marching each Sunday from the Playhouse Square parking to the bridge and back.

She said she’s been in touch with some of hostages’ families online.

“It’s really important,” she said. “They need our support. Can you imagine if your child, or your mother or your father were in Gaza? Right now if your daughter was being raped on a daily basis?”

“We can’t forget about these people,” she said.

Wasserman helped people reaffix laminated hostage posters on the railing of the bridge. Many had been removed a while back by someone with differing views.

Many drivers passing over the bridge, which has been a traditional location for political and other gatherings, honked their horns.

“Bring them home!” one woman yelled from a car.

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 36 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.