Mother of captive soldier slams ‘insufferable abandon’ with which politicians, media talk about number of living hostages

Herut Nimrodi, whose captive soldier son Tamir was said by an Israeli official this week to be feared dead, demands that “members of Knesset and media figures exercise discretion before talking about our loved ones.”

“There is just one status — hostages,” she says. “There are 59 pure souls who fit that definition, and each and every one of them must come home now.”

“Bring back the hostages, end the war,” she adds, addressing decision-makers.

Fears for Tamir Nimrodi’s life grew this week after US President Donald Trump said 21, not 24, hostages in Gaza were still alive. An Israeli official later said there was grave fear for the lives of three hostages — two foreigners and an Israeli. Tamir Nimrodi’s family identified him as the Israeli feared dead, but added that they have received no new information about him.

Speaking at Hostages Square, Tamir’s mother says the family found itself this week thrown into “a discourse of numbers tossed into the air with insufferable abandon.”

She adds that there has been no certainty about his condition since he was kidnapped in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, “and hence the grave fear for his life.”

Other speakers at the Hostages Square rally highlight opinion polls indicating some 70% of the public supports an end to the fighting in Gaza as part of a deal to bring back the hostages.

The comments came after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — who opposes a truce-hostage deal and who has consistently failed to cross the electoral threshold in recent surveys — reportedly told hostage families that he represents the majority of the public.

Ilan Dalal, whose son Guy Gilboa-Dalal is among the living captives, cites the reported 70% support, saying: “According to every poll, the nation has already chosen. It’s chosen the hostages.”