‘Joy and worry’ from Israeli hostage families as ceasefire deal reached

Yehuda Cohen, father of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier who was abducted by Hamas, said: “I don’t have time for emotion.”

“I can be the father of Nimrod once Nimrod is back here,” he said.

“I haven’t talked to him for 15 months, seen him, heard him…I’m fighting to get back to be Nimrod’s father.”

According to BBC Verify, 94 of the 251 hostages taken on 7 October 2023 are still held in Gaza – 60 are assumed to be living and 34 dead.

Some 109 hostages have already been released through negotiations, either on humanitarian grounds or during a temporary ceasefire in November 2023.

Eight hostages have been rescued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The remains of 40 hostages have been recovered from Gaza by the IDF. This includes three hostages accidentally killed by the IDF on 15 December 2023.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 46,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter due to a struggle to get aid to those in need.

Additional reporting by George Wright