“Every such occasion is a chance to reach Nimrod, give him some strength and show him that we are fighting for him,” Yehuda Cohen, whose soldier son Nimrod was abducted by Hamas terrorists near Kibbutz Nirim on Oct. 7, told JNS on Monday.
Hundreds took the streets in Nimrod’s home town of Rehovot on Monday afternoon to mark his 20th birthday.
“It’s mainly sad because he is still not home, but it’s also a little bit happy because Nimrod has a twin sister, Romi, and it’s also her birthday. We have to be strong for her as well,” said Cohen.
Yehuda learned of his son’s kidnapping while on his computer skimming through footage released by Hamas on Oct. 7.
“I knew something bad had happened because he was not responding to my WhatsApp messages. And then I saw him on a clip being dragged on the floor from his tank, that’s when I realized he had been abducted,” Cohen explained.
In November, Cohen received information on his son through former captive Nili Margalit. Shortly after the abductions, she said, Hamas had gathered all the hostages in one room and asked somebody to make a list of needed medicine.
Margalit mentioned a soldier who asked for a healing cream for tattoos; Nimrod had gotten one the week before.
“How innocent of him to ask for that on that horrible occasion, but it was a sign that he was relatively healthy,” Cohen told JNS.
“One of the young kids who returned from Hamas captivity also recognized Nimrod on one of the hostages’ posters,” he added.
The last proof of life Cohen received was through Israeli intelligence back in May.
“I know he is holding on, he is young and strong, I know my son. But he is very precious for Hamas, they need him for trading purposes so they’ll keep him,” Cohen added.
Mediators are working to revive the ceasefire outline President Joe Biden presented on May 31, which calls in its first stage for a “full and complete” six-week truce during which dozens of hostages—women, the elderly and the sick—would be exchanged for hundreds of terrorists.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem and Hamas would negotiate the terms of the second phase, in which the remaining male hostages would be freed in return for Israel releasing additional Palestinian terrorists from jail.
In the third phase, the corpses of Israeli civilians and soldiers would be returned for burial, and the reconstruction of the Strip would start.
“At this point in time, it seems that all the elements are aligning and pointing in the right direction,” Cohen said.
Hostages families had expressed concern on Sunday that negotiations could fall apart after the IDF targeted Hamas terror mastermind Mohammed Deif in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip.
However, sources in Hamas confirmed to the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar on Monday that indirect ceasefire talks are continuing.
Next week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address a joint session of Congress, where he is expected to highlight the plight of the captives.
“Netanyahu will likely want to have by then either a finalized deal or be in the final stages of the negotiation process,” Cohen said. “I don’t want to have too much hope so as not to be disappointed, but it’s definitely going the right way.
“I will be there [in Washington] with my older son Yotam to remind the prime minister that we want a deal,” he continued. “Wherever he will be, we will be shouting that we want a deal to release all the hostages.”
