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On the morning of October seventh, 2023, my household awoke to the blaring sounds of sirens in Rehovot, a metropolis simply 15 miles from Tel Aviv.
As hundreds of rockets rained down on Israel, experiences started rising of a Hamas-led incursion into Israeli communities alongside the Gaza border, accompanied by livestreamed movies from the terrorists exhibiting the horrific bloodbath.
My son, 19-year-old Nimrod Cohen, was serving within the Israel Protection Forces as a tank gunner close to Gaza. As hours handed with none phrase from him, I turned to social media to assemble extra data. That’s after I stumbled upon a video on YouTube exhibiting Hamas terrorists swarming a burning tank. Nimrod lay on the bottom, helplessly being dragged away by an armed terrorist.
THE FORGOTTEN AMERICANS OF HAMAS’ TERRORIST MASSACRE ON OCTOBER 7TH
Yehuda Cohen, proper, along with his sons Nimrod, left, and Yotam. (Courtesy The Cohen Household)
That day, 1,200 individuals have been tortured, raped and slaughtered, and 247 individuals have been taken hostage. Nimrod, now 20, stays among the many 59 hostages nonetheless held in Gaza.
We later realized that the three different troopers in Nimrod’s tank – Cpt. Omer Neutra, Sgt. Shaked Dahan and Sgt. Oz Daniel – have been killed on that Black Saturday, leaving him as the only survivor.
My household has spent the final 18 months in agonizing uncertainty. We now have traveled the globe to boost consciousness of the plight of our son and the opposite hostages who’re held captive in a posh community of Hamas-built tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip. Tragically, we now know that 41 hostages died whereas held captive, seven have been recovered by navy operations and 147 launched by way of a ceasefire deal. Whereas it pains us to make such a deal that may result in the discharge of terrorists from Israeli prisons, it’s a sacrifice we’re prepared to make.
Yehuda Cohen’s son, IDF Cpl. Nimrod Cohen, was serving as a tank gunner alongside the Gaza border when he was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. (Courtesy The Cohen Household)
Because of the efforts of President Donald Trump and the U.S. Particular Envoy Steve Witkoff, a ceasefire deal was finalized earlier this yr, permitting for the discharge of some hostages. Two hostages freed through the first section of the ceasefire confirmed that Nimrod remains to be alive. Tragically, we obtained heartbreaking particulars: he has been shackled, tortured, and saved in a cage. His psychological well being has deteriorated, and he’s affected by a pores and skin illness and ear an infection as a result of lack of medical care.
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Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen along with his mom Vicky Cohen. (Courtesy The Cohen Household)
Regardless of all of his ache and struggling, my Nimrod informed these freed hostages to relay a easy message to his household: “I’m okay. Don’t fear about me. I like you.”
Within the Jewish custom, each particular person is taken into account a universe unto themselves. This perception is deeply ingrained within the Israeli ethos, which emphasizes the significance of guaranteeing that nobody is left behind. Due to this fact, when the ceasefire settlement collapsed and hostilities reignited final month, we have been devastated because it meant that Nimrod’s life continues to hold within the steadiness, topic to the whims of a unstable and unpredictable battle.
The USA has lengthy been thought-about the chief of the free world. I implore the Trump administration to remain the course and proceed making use of diplomatic stress to all events concerned, in order that our household, the nation of Israel – and all those that imagine in liberty – can start to heal from the struggling brought on by this brutal struggle.
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Nimrod Cohen poses beside President Donald Trump’s wax determine at Madame Tussauds wax museum throughout a household journey to London when he was a teen. (Courtesy The Cohen Household)
When Nimrod was a teen, he visited Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. We took an image of Nimrod subsequent to the wax determine of President Trump. I pray that at some point quickly, I can take a photograph of my Nimrod with the chief I imagine can finish his struggling and convey this devastating battle to a detailed.
