The father of Nimrod Cohen, a soldier kidnapped by Hamas terrorists near Kibbutz Nirim on Oct. 7, tells JNS that his family is attending Sunday night’s rally in Jerusalem to “fight for the captives.”
“We are here to push for a deal to release all of the hostages, to ask the government to go for an agreement,” said Yehuda Cohen.
“The IDF is withdrawing from Gaza, we know there is no fighting. People from Gaza are moving from south to north. Hamas is getting all its demands without giving us anything, and we are getting weaker,” he continued.
“We see that [President Joe] Biden is forcing [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to send a delegation to the negotiations [in Cairo], we actually call on the American leader to help us get our loved ones back home,” added Cohen.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces withdrew all ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip, leaving only one brigade remaining in the coastal enclave.
Hours later, terrorists in Khan Yunis fired four rockets towards towns in Israel’s Eshkol region. The Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted two of the rockets.
Also Sunday, Israel’s War Cabinet decided to send a delegation to Egypt to participate in the latest round of negotiations aimed at securing the release of the hostages held by Hamas.
Hamas has stuck to its maximalist positions throughout the process, demands that Jerusalem has called “delusional” and which include a “permanent ceasefire,” an Israeli military withdrawal from the coastal enclave, a return of displaced Gazans and the release of hundreds of terrorists from Israeli prisons.
Israel is determined to complete its mission to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, including in the southernmost city of Rafah, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday following the troop pullout.
“Citizens of Israel, there is no war more just than this one, and we are determined to achieve total victory,” said Netanyahu in an address to the nation marking six months since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.
In a phone call on Thursday, Biden demanded that Netanyahu improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, stressing that “an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians.”
Biden also urged Netanyahu “to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,” the White House said.
Hamas is still holding 133 hostages out of 253 kidnapped during its Oct. 7 invasion of the northwestern Negev. Some 1,200 people were killed during the attack and thousands more were wounded.
