The case of Herut Nimrod is probably the hardest of all the relatives of the last 48 hostages in Gaza. His son Tamir, with dual German-Israeli nationality, is one of the only two captives, along with the Nepali Bipin Joshi, whose luck is unknown. His only track is the video of his capture, alive, on October 7, 2023. Nothing more since then, except for a figure released by the US president, Donald Trump, who seemed to indicate that the secret services knew he is dead, but they did not tell him.
Israel places 20 alive (for intelligence information or because Hamas himself has shown them speaking in his propaganda videos) and gives the other 26, so – after two years of waiting – Herut is filled with tears of tears when he imagined hugging his son in a few days, thanks to the plan for Gaza of the president of the United States of all hostages) what just two weeks before looked like a chimera.
“There were agreements before, but this time it seems different,” he says in the Plaza de la Protesta that this Saturday has gathered a crowd in Tel Aviv to press for the release of hostages. “Yes, I can imagine hugging Tamir. I don’t know what condition it is on, but I hope you have survived and know that we are doing our best to free him. What I am sure is that the first thing he will want is a hug from his mother.”
Nimrod admits that the ultra -nationalist partners of Netanyahu boycott the end of the bombings (in their search to empty Gaza of Palestinians and recolonize it with Jews), but believes that Netanyahu “will maintain her word”, that a majority of the government and Israeli society supports the pact and, above all, that Trump has decided to happen. “Everyone Arab is behind and I hope you press Hamas to accept it. I know they ask for changes, but I hope that mediators can solve the differences and see our children soon at home,” he says. Symbolically, his name, Herut, means in Hebrew “freedom.” His hope is now that this demonstration – which is celebrated every Saturday when the sabbatical day concludes when the sun falls – is the last.
All seem aware of the importance of the moment. And nobody means it sharply, for fear of a new disappointment, but this Saturday a different environment marks the demonstration. A crowd floods the square and accesses. , more than on previous occasions. Due to megafonía, they ensure that the police calculate 200,000 attendees, a success in a country of 10 million inhabitants.
The prevailing sensation is that this time is the definitive one. And that “all” (one of the songs that all chant in the protest along with the word “now”) although most are already in coffins, only so that their loved ones can watch them. “It’s now or never. And it has to be now, Mr. Prime Minister,” he throws Netanyahu from the strade Lior Ashkenazi, a popular actor involved in the cause from the beginning. In the banners you can read “Socorro, already two years” or “we love Trump.”
Einav Zangauker, Netanyahu’s “nightmare” – as she defined himself by understanding how she had lied to her will to bring her son Matan – took a long applause when she took the stage. It has become a symbol and shoots at the prime minister, whose name boo the public. “Hamas has accepted the agreement. The end of our suffering depends and falls on the shoulders of a single person: Netanyahu, returns to all, now!”
Here, the head of Israeli government is the bad guy who has been avoiding the agreement. In the speeches it translates the fear that he gives up his ultra -right -wing governing partners (who criticize the agreement, but at least for the moment they will remain in the coalition) and torpedo the dialogue on the implementation of the agreement,
The good is, without a doubt, Trump. It is reflected in posters with the word thanks in English and flags of the United States. The general feeling is that only he, even to win his long -awaited Nobel Peace and with his eccentric and authoritarian forms, has achieved what did not do his predecessor, Joe Biden. Ashkenazi thanks him from the stage to have “achieved a consensus between left and right” about the hostage issue.
“None of this would have happened”
The former Argentine-Israelí hostage in Gaza Luis Har, one of the few rescued in a military operation, has come to the demonstration to show his support and only has words of thanks to Trump. “If it wasn’t for him, none of this would have happened!” He says between hugs and greetings.
He knows the risk of selling the bear’s skin before hunting it: he stayed out of a first exchange, in 2023, in which the three relatives women with whom they were captured, all with dual Argentine and Israeli nationality came out. So advocate “wait a bit not to excite yourself.” And insists that it will be a “very hard for everyone.” He spent five months deprived of liberty, but in apartments and without suffering physical violence, the last 20 living hostages have been captive for two years and have spent more time in tunnels, in the midst of a famine caused by Netanyahu, what is seen in its deteriorated bodies in the propaganda videos of Hamas.
Gil Dickman would have many reasons to hate, but concentrates his energies in achieving the release of the remaining 48 hostages. “I don’t want any other family to live what mine has lived,” he summarizes. His cousin, Carmel Gat, was on the list of living hostages in 2024, during the negotiations of a high fire that Netayahu artificially extended to guarantee his political survival. In September of that year, the cat captors and another five hostages murdered them, when detected a rescue conato of the Israeli special forces. It was an attempt by Netanyahu to avoid negotiations and hang the medal of another film rescue. In January 2025, Dickman saw the women who shared ready with their cousin alive. “And, really,” he emphasizes, “that he couldn’t be happier.”
Dickman does not throw the bells on the fly, but he is not afraid to point out the obvious for fear of a future disappointment. “Nothing is finished until it is finished, but I am quite optimistic. Trump has told both Netanyahu and Hamas that the time has come,” he says. “I am very happy and optimistic. Of course, it is a pity that I have not arrived before. And it is something that neither forgets or forgive.”
