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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 650

Eliya Cohen

Freed hostage Eli Sharabi speaks to Channel 12, in an excerpt from an interview set to be broadcast June 6, 2025. (Screen capture via N12 on X)
June 5, 2025, 12:54 pm
Eli Sharabi: In Gaza, we figured we’d be free already if Israel had different government
Says he and fellow hostages had ‘no doubt’ a different leadership would have secured their release much earlier, and they ‘discussed this exact point’ in Hamas tunnel
By ToI Staff
Former hostages, and relatives of hostages, at a press conference in Tel Aviv, marking 600 days of the hostages' captivity, May 28, 2025 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
May 28, 2025, 3:51 pm
‘Abandoned, forgotten’: Relatives of 58 hostages held in Gaza mark 600 days since Oct. 7
Captives’ loved ones rage against government as protesters across the country call for hostage deal and new elections, almost 20 months after terrorist assault
By Jessica Steinberg and ToI Staff
Former hostage Eliya Cohen recites the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall on April 15, 2025. (Western Wall Foundation)
April 15, 2025, 8:30 pm
Tens of thousands flock to Western Wall as ex-hostage Eliya Cohen says priestly blessing
During the ceremony, the young man holds up posters for two captives still in the Strip, Segev Kalfon and Alon Ohel, as the massive crowd recites the prayer for the hostages
By Rossella Tercatin
Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel, speaks during a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, March 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
April 9, 2025, 9:41 pm
What Matters Now to hostage mom Idit Ohel: Let our captives go!
Son Alon Ohel has shrapnel in his eye but endures with other fellow captives. Now, ahead of Passover, Idit says the entire Jewish nation must demand their freedom
By Jessica Steinberg
Released hostage Eliya Cohen speaks to Channel 12 in the first interview he has given since his release from Hamas captivity in February, on April 1, 2025. (Screen capture, Channel 12)
April 2, 2025, 5:49 am
Ex-hostage Eliya Cohen: Terrorists killed captive who tried to flee before we entered Gaza
In interview, Cohen describes attack on ‘bunker of death’ from which he was abducted, says captors intentionally starved hostages: ‘You find yourself begging — and they enjoy it’
By ToI Staff
Family members of Aner Shapiro, killed protecting others in a roadside shelter at the Nova rave on October 7, 2023, launched an album of his songs on March 27, 2025 in Jerusalem (Courtesy)
March 28, 2025, 4:10 pm
Family releases album of raps composed by Oct. 7 hero Aner Shapiro
Clip of ‘Headstart’ features Aner’s best friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, singing the song in the car
By Jessica Steinberg
Israelis attend a rally demanding a deal to bring hostages home from Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, March 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
March 21, 2025, 11:07 pm
‘Israel choosing endless war’: 40 freed hostages demand end to fighting, return to talks
Also signed by 250 family members of hostages, letter calls renewed fighting in Gaza Strip a ‘criminal policy’ that risks lives of living hostages, disappearing the fallen
By ToI Staff
Rabbi Elhanan Danino speaks at a memorial event in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
March 11, 2025, 12:56 am
A mourning rabbi looks to hostage son, slain in Gaza, for direction as he pushes for a deal
Before he was murdered in captivity, Ori Danino helped fellow hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in acts of heroism that color how his father now honors his legacy
By Jessica Steinberg
Freed hostage Eliya Cohen (left) reunites with family members at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, February 22, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO); National Security Itamar Ben Gvir arrives for a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. January 17, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
February 25, 2025, 10:54 am
Released hostage says Ben Gvir’s comments worsened conditions in captivity
Successful rescue mission of four captives in June led Hamas captors to tie abductees together in chains to obstruct future operations, says ex-hostage Eliya Cohen
By ToI Staff
The six hostages released on February 22, 2025 reunite with their families. Top row from left: Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, Avera Mengistu. Bottom row from left: Hisham al-Sayed, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham. (IDF)
February 22, 2025, 11:34 pm
Hostages were chained, starved, kept in pitch black; some return almost unresponsive
Hamas made 2 hostages not going free watch release ceremony from a vehicle near the stage; Omer Shem Tov, abducted from Nova festival, was held alone in a tunnel for some 450 days
By Emanuel Fabian, Lazar Berman, Michael Bachner, Charlie Summers, Leon Kraiem and ToI Staff
Israeli hostages released February 22, 2025 (left to right): Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu seen on stage in Rafah (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo); Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert on stage in Nuseirat (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo); Hisham al-Sayed in Gaza (X screenshot)
February 22, 2025, 4:53 pm
Hamas frees final 6 living hostages in phase 1 of deal; all reunite with family in Israel
October 7 captives Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen back after over 500 days in Hamas captivity; Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed return after decade in Gaza
By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian
Family members of hostages honored on International Women's Day at the Peres Center on February 19, 2025 (Courtesy)
February 19, 2025, 8:40 pm
Hostages’ mothers, wives and sisters honored on Int. Women’s Day
Peres Center honors women who are shaping Israel’s post-October 7 recovery: ‘We’re fighters and we’ll change the world with our acts’
By Jessica Steinberg
Recently released hostage Keith Siegel thanks US President Donald Trump for his involvement in the hostage release and ceasefire deal, and pleads with the president to ensure all are released, in a video message published on February 14, 2025. (Screenshot)
February 14, 2025, 3:10 pm
‘I was starved and tortured’: Keith Siegel urges Trump to ensure all hostages freed
Dual national tells US president ‘you are the reason I am home alive’; released captive Or Levy visits Hostages Square, days after release from Hamas captivity: ‘Hope dies last’
By ToI Staff and Jessica Steinberg
A pro-hostage deal protester opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoists a sign reading: 'They're suffering a Holocaust and you're vacationing in America,' in Tel Aviv, February 8, 2025. (Lior Segev/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
February 10, 2025, 1:19 pm
Bound, gagged and starved: Released hostages report severe mistreatment by captors
Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi, who returned emaciated, were reportedly hung by their feet and burned; still in Gaza, Eliya Cohen and Alon Ohel said untreated for Oct. 7 wounds
By ToI Staff
Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel, interviewed on Channel 12 news, February 9, 2025 (Channel 12 screenshot)
February 9, 2025, 10:37 pm
Pleading for his release, mother says hostage Alon Ohel is wounded, chained in Hamas tunnels
Family of Ohel — who turns 24 on Monday — reports first sign of life since he was taken captive, after testimony from newly freed hostages who were held with him in dire conditions
By ToI Staff
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