At Tel Aviv sit-in, mother of Nimrod Cohen says occupying Gaza will be ‘death sentence’ for hostages

Hundreds of people gather for a sit-in on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, outside the Defense Ministry headquarters, led by Shift 101, the mostly silent, white-clad activist group.

The protesters, led by Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen and Maccabit Meir, aunt of hostages Ziv and Gali Berman, along with others, marched to Kaplan Street from Dizengoff Square.

“This government is ruining all of our values,” says Cohen. “We’re hearing talk about conquering Gaza, that will be a death sentence for our hostages, it will turn them into Ron Arads,” she says, referring to the Air Force navigator captured in Lebanon in 1986 and never released. “We can’t allow that to happen, and that’s why we’re here to continue fighting, to say, ‘Enough, stop.'”

Cohen tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the time has come to stop with his desire for revenge, to listen to the people and stop the war, and return all the hostages so that Israeli society can begin rebuilding itself and burying its dead.

Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel, says she doesn’t have a lot to say, except that she misses her son immensely.

“I so miss him that sometimes I forget how it is to be the mother of Alon,” says Ohel. “It’s hard to speak, it’s hard to stand, it’s hard to walk. The hardest is to breathe, knowing your son is in that place. I don’t wish this upon anyone.”

At the end of the shift, the protesters sing a song to mark what would have been the sixth birthday of Ariel Bibas, taken captive with his mother and younger brother on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity. His body was returned for burial in February.