Nimrod Cohen’s mother never got to ask him why he chose a raven for the tattoo he got in October 2023. Three days after getting inked, Nimrod was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
The next time Cohen saw that bird was more than 500 days later, in a Hamas propaganda video.
“It was the first time we got a visual sign of life of Nimrod and I was so excited to see him standing, moving his body, the first time that we can see him after so long. It makes Nimrod more present and it makes Nimrod more alive, and it also makes me more worried and afraid.”
Nimrod Cohen is one of 24 hostages held in Gaza who are believed to be alive. As a young, healthy man with no children, Cohen has not been prioritized for release by Israeli negotiators, who insisted that women and children, the elderly and any injured hostages were freed first.
But for Vicky Cohen, there is no higher priority in the world than getting her son back. “I’m frightened and very worried but I’m not losing hope. I cannot lose hope. But also, I do believe that our government is not doing enough to bring him back,” she said.
Nimrod Cohen is among a handful of living hostages who were active-duty soldiers when abducted, alongside Edan Alexander, Matan Angrest and Tamir Nimrod. Hamas is also holding the bodies of several other soldiers, most of whom were killed during the October 7 terror attack.
Under the phased deal to which Israel and Hamas agreed in January, younger male hostages were going to be released during the latter stages of the ceasefire.
But they are now caught in limbo as the first phase of the deal expired without the two sides agreeing on what’s next.
Edan Alexander is the last of the American hostages in Gaza who is believed to be alive. The bodies of four more American citizens – Judi Weinstein Haggai and her husband Gad Haggai, and soldiers Itay Chan and Omer Maxim Neutra – are also still held by Hamas.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office accused Hamas of engaging in “manipulation” and “psychological warfare” by announcing their willingness to release Alexander. Israeli ministers will meet on Saturday night to receive a detailed report from a negotiating team that spent the past week in Doha, and “to decide on the next steps for the release of the hostages.”
Adi Alexander, Edan’s father, has spent the past year and half lobbying for the release of his son and all of the other hostages. He said he and his wife have attended more than 300 meetings with American officials.
“But what about the hostages? We don’t want to go back into the situation with Gilad Shalit (whom) they kept for years and at the end of the day, the demands were the same – so the Israelis need to get out of this comfort zone and keep negotiating.”
Gilad Shalit is a former IDF soldier who was held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years. He was released in 2011, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
Trump’s ultimatum
Earlier this year, Israel and Hamas agreed to a phased ceasefire that would consist of three distinct stages. The initial phase of the truce ended in mid-February, after 38 hostages were freed from Gaza and 1,737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released from Israeli prisons.
The second phase was meant to include the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of all remaining living hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The details of how this would unfold were meant to be agreed during the first phase of the agreement, but that has not happened.
“What’s happening now, exactly? What is the plan? It obviously never went by the original plan to start negotiating after 16 days and be over with that within two weeks, we are far beyond that in this point, so what is the strategy?,” Alexander said.
“We are in no man’s land, leaving hostages under the ground, which is unacceptable.”
The Israeli government has suggested an extension to the first stage, demanding the release of half of the remaining Israeli living and deceased hostages in Gaza but without committing to end the war or withdraw Israeli troops. In return, Israel would release more Palestinian prisoners and detainees and allow more aid into the territory. According to this plan, the rest of the hostages would be released when, or if, an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from his far-right coalition partners to return to war. Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, has threatened to withdraw from the government if Israel doesn’t restart the war. Itamar Ben Gvir quit his post as national security minister over the ceasefire.
Smotrich and Ben Gvir have argued that Israel should keep fighting Hamas until the group is “eliminated,” after which they want Israel to take over Gaza and build settlements there – an idea lent credence by US President Donald Trump, but dismissed by most other leaders.
Vicky Cohen said that she believes the Israeli government has prioritized the goal of defeating Hamas completely over the release of hostages, including her son.
“After more than one year of war, Hamas is still ruling Gaza. I understand the need (to stop) Hamas from ruling Gaza, so we won’t get to October 7 once again … but we need to pay a price and now, the main thing is to bring the hostages back home, even though it means to stop the war and withdraw from Gaza and deal with Hamas later on,” she said, adding that the idea of building Jewish settlements in Gaza was “nonsense.”
To put extra pressure on Hamas, Israel announced earlier this month that it would stop the entry of all humanitarian aid and electricity into Gaza.
The families of hostages still in Gaza are now pinning their hopes on Trump, who has sent US officials to negotiate directly with Hamas, in a notable U-turn from a long-standing policy of not talking to groups it considers terrorist organizations.
“We hear from the president that he is committed to bring all the hostages back, and we trust him, and we believe that’s what he is going to do – not because he loves the hostages, but because the wants to stop the war between a Russian and Ukraine crime and in Gaza, he wants to get a Nobel Prize of Peace,” Cohen said.
Earlier this month, Trump went as far as issuing what he said was a “last warning” to Hamas to release all hostages immediately, saying that “not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.”
While Hamas said Trump’s words threatened to undermine the ceasefire, Adi Alexander said he had faith in Trump. Alexander is the only one of the five American hostages in Gaza, to be alive.
But Trump’s plan has not worked – at least not yet.
Instead, the US came up with a new proposal this week to extend the ceasefire in exchange for the release of a handful of living hostages.
The development was met with dismay by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which said reports of the proposal “raise serious concerns among the families of the hostages that their loved ones will be left in captivity for a long and unknown period.”
“We demand a comprehensive and immediate agreement that will return all 59 hostages in one fell swoop and leave no one behind,” the forum added in a statement.
Vicky Cohen said she has publicly turned to Netanyahu and other officials to “beg him to do the right thing.”
“There are people are still alive there, and even though Nimrod is a soldier, he is only 20 years old, and he is my son. I want to hug him. I want him back home. I miss the all the small things of life, hearing his voice, seeing his smile, seeing the mess in his room, and the empty packets of ice cream he leaves behind,” she said.