Latest news with #EliyaCohen
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ex-hostage: Fight for freedom of captives is ‘most Israeli, Jewish, human thing we can do'
Former hostage Eliya Cohen urged the public to continue fighting for those still held in Gaza, calling the mission 'the most Israeli, the most Jewish, and the most human thing we can do." On the 600th day since Hamas abducted 251 people from Israel, former hostage Eliya Cohen urged the public to continue fighting for those still held in Gaza, calling the mission 'the most Israeli, the most Jewish, and the most human thing we can do,' according to a statement released by the Israeli-American Council (IAC). Cohen, 26, was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, and was held in Gaza for 505 days before being released in February 2025. During the attack, Cohen and his fiancée, Ziv Abud, sought refuge in what later became known as the 'death shelter' near Kibbutz Re'im. Abud survived by hiding under the bodies of other victims for six hours. Cohen, meanwhile, was abducted, shot in the leg, and subjected to brutal conditions in Hamas's underground tunnels. Despite the trauma, Cohen reportedly performed kiddush before Shabbat and maintained a routine of prayer, even while in captivity, as revealed by messages passed on by released hostages. He was unaware that his fiancée had survived until he returned to Israel after his release, as part of a ceasefire agreement. 'I may be here, but part of me is still in Gaza,' Cohen said during the 'Israel United: Celebrating Israel at 77' mega event Tuesday night at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. 'You have united, together, to call for the release of the hostages. You told our stories. You stood up for us. For 505 days, you were fighting for me, while I was in the tunnels under Gaza. And since my release, I've been joining you in that fight. Because the hostages still need your help. It is possible to bring them home — just like I came home.' The event was organized by the IAC, Jewish Federation Los Angeles, the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, and StandWithUs. It marked 600 days since the October 7 Hamas massacre, which left more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals dead and 251 kidnapped. 'Today, we mark 600 days — 600 days that our brothers and sisters are in captivity. Six hundred days that Am Yisrael [the people of Israel] has not been able to heal. Six hundred days of pain and waiting. There are still 58 hostages. We cannot give up. We cannot lose hope,' Cohen said. He added, 'Independence is more than a date on the calendar — it's the ability to live freely. The fact that I survived, and that I am standing here before you tonight — that is a miracle. After 505 days in captivity, I know the true meaning of freedom.' Also speaking at the event was IAC CEO Elan Carr, the former US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. In the IAC statement, Carr described Israel's founding as a transformative moment in global history. 'May 1948 was a watershed moment for human history,' Carr said in the statement. 'Just as the Biblical Exodus from Egypt inspired America's founding and the US Civil Rights movement, the creation of Israel was history's greatest story of national self-determination. Israel has done more to elevate the human condition than almost any other country.' Other dignitaries in attendance included Israel's Consul-General in Los Angeles Israel Bachar, Congressman Brad Sherman, Jewish Federation Los Angeles President and CEO Rabbi Noah Farkas, StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein, and Australian media personality Erin Molan. The evening featured performances by Israeli singer Itay Levi and American actor and comedian Elon Gold. Levi brought Cohen onstage and dedicated a song to him and to all the remaining hostages. According to the IAC, the event aimed to celebrate Israel's 77th Independence Day while honoring the unity of the Jewish people and renewing the call for the release of all hostages.
New York Post
16-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Freed Hamas hostages to march in NY's Israel Day Parade this weekend: ‘We won't stop until everyone is home'
Hamas hostage survivors will march down Fifth Avenue on Sunday as part of New York's annual Israel Day Parade — to continue the push to free the remaining 58 captives. Keith and Aviva Siegel, Doron Steinbracher, Ilana Gritzewsky and Eliya Cohen are expected to join as many as 40,000 other demonstrators for the parade, showing solidarity for Israel as well as advocating for the plight of the hostages. 'We will march together, standing with the families and released hostages, and making our message unmistakably clear: Nothing is more important than bringing them home — all of them. We won't stop until everyone is home,' the Jewish Community Relations Council said in a statement. 3 The 2025 Israel Day Parade theme is 'Hatikvah,' meaning 'The hope' in Hebrew. Stephen Yang This year's theme is, fittingly, 'Hatikvah,' meaning 'the hope' in Hebrew. It is also the title of Israel's national anthem. The parade logo for 2025 is a multi-colored tree with a yellow ribbon in its center, which has been used to signify support for the 251 people who were abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack. The Siegels and Gritzeweky were freed from captivity in November 2023 during the first cease-fire deal with Hamas, while Steinbracher and Cohen endured nearly 500 days of torture. 3 Freed Israeli hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel will attend the march. AFP via Getty Images 3 Eliya Cohen was released by Hamas in February. AFP via Getty Images 'It's just impossible to grasp, and there are no words to describe the lack of understanding in our country about what is taking place 50 meters underground,' Cohen said after his release. It will be the second march since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, and its mission has since pivoted from celebrating the Jewish culture to stamping out antisemitism and renewing demands to free the remaining hostages. The procession will start at 11:30 a.m. at 62nd Street and continue north to 74th Street.
South China Morning Post
25-02-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Fragile Gaza ceasefire faces key deadline. Will it last?
The first phase of the ceasefire that paused 15 months of brutal warfare between Israel and Hamas militants was set to end on Saturday – and it was unclear what would come next. Advertisement The two sides were supposed to start negotiating a second phase weeks ago in which Hamas would release all the remaining hostages from its October 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the war, in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. But those negotiations have not begun – there have only been preparatory talks – and the first phase has been jolted by one dispute after another. Hamas has freed all 25 living hostages included in the first six-week phase ending on March 1 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. It has also released the bodies of four captives and was expected to turn over four more, though it was unclear if that would happen Thursday as planned. Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen before his release from Gaza on Saturday. Photo: Reuters That leaves it with more than 60 captives, around half of whom were believed to be dead. Israel has meanwhile delayed the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be freed last weekend over the treatment of the captives, who were paraded before crowds.
Jordan Times
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Jordan Times
Hamas says Gaza truce gravely endangered after Israel's prisoner delay
Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen, flanked by Palestinian Hamas fighters, gestures waves after being released along with two others as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner exchange ,in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on February 22, 2025 (AFP photo) OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Hamas on Sunday said Israel has gravely endangered a five-week-old Gaza truce by delaying the release of Palestinian prisoners under the deal because of the manner it has freed Israeli first phase of the truce ends early in March and details of a planned subsequent phase have not been tensions again hanging over the deal -- which halted more than 15 months of war -- Israel on Sunday announced an expansion of military operations in the occupied West military said a tank division will be sent in to the West Bank city of Jenin, the first such deployment to the territory in 20 the Gaza ceasefire's first phase began on January 19, Hamas has released 25 living Israeli hostages in ceremonies before crowds at various locations in masked fighters escort the captives onto stages adorned with slogans. The hostages have spoken and waved in what Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called "humiliating ceremonies".The Red Cross has previously appealed to "all parties" for the swaps to be carried out in a "dignified and private" the seventh such transfer, Hamas released six Israeli captives on Saturday but Israel put off the planned release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners in Hamas official Bassem Naim said postponing the release exposes "the entire agreement to grave danger".Naim said the mediators, "especially the Americans", must pressure Israel's government "to implement the agreement as it is and immediately release our prisoners."Both sides have accused each other of violations during the ceasefire but it has so far tanks in Jenin Early Sunday, Netanyahu's office said that, "In light of Hamas' repeated violations -- including the disgraceful ceremonies that dishonour our hostages and the cynical use of hostages for propaganda -- it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists."Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war. The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, and Israel's retaliation killed more than 48,000, according to figures from both war drew in Iran-backed groups around the region, including in Lebanon where Israel in November reached a separate ceasefire with the Hezbollah the Gaza war -- which displaced almost the entire population of 2.4 million -- violence has also soared in the West Sunday, Israel's military said "a tank division will operate in Jenin" as part of "expanding" operations in the area, where the military began a major raid against Palestinian militants just after the Gaza truce United Nations has said the military activities have led to "forced displacement" of 40,000 Palestinians from Jenin and other refugee Minister Israel Katz said he has told troops "to prepare for a prolonged presence in the cleared camps for the coming year and to prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism."In the West Bank as well as in Gaza, families of Palestinian prisoners had waited with uncertainly into the night on Saturday, hoping for their the city of Khan Yunis, Umm Diya Al Agha, 80, said she had received word her son was among those scheduled to be freed, after 33 years in prison."If my heart were made of iron, it would have melted and shattered. Every day, I have been waiting for this moment," she said.'Parading of bodies' The six Israelis released Saturday were the last group of living hostages set to be freed under the truce's first a ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza, hostages Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Israeli-Argentine Omer Wenkert, 23, waved from a stage, flanked by masked Hamas militants, before being transferred to the Red Cross."I saw the look on his face. He's calm, he knows he's coming back home... He's a real hero," said Wenkert's friend Rory Rafah, southern Gaza, militants handed over Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38.A sixth hostage, Hisham al-Sayed, 37, was later released in private and taken back to Israeli territory, the military a Bedouin Muslim, and Mengistu, an Ethiopian Jew, had been held in Gaza for about a decade after they entered the territory said they freed Sayed in private to "honour and respect" Palestinians inside Thursday, the first transfer of dead hostages under the truce sparked anger in Israel after analysis concluded that captive Shiri Bibas's remains were not among the four bodies human rights chief Volker Turk condemned the "parading of bodies" during a ceremony in which coffins, with pictures of the dead attached, were displayed on a slogan-bedecked and her two young sons became symbols of Israel's hostage admitted a possible "mix-up of bodies", and late Friday handed over more human remains, which the Bibas family said had been identified as the mother' has long maintained that an Israeli air strike killed Bibas and her sons. Forensics expert Chen Kugel, however, said an autopsy of their remains found "no evidence of injuries caused by a bombing".
New York Times
22-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Live Updates: Israel Delays Prisoner Release After Hamas Frees 6 Hostages
Eliya Cohen, a hostage held in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, was released in a ceremony in Nuseirat, Gaza, on Saturday. Hamas released six more hostages on Saturday as part of its cease-fire deal with Israel, the last living captives to be freed under the current truce in Gaza. As part of the cease-fire agreement, Hamas committed to releasing at least 33 of the nearly 100 captives remaining in Gaza, a number of whom are believed to be dead, in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a partial Israeli withdrawal. Both sides are set to negotiate terms to extend the truce, but an agreement appears remote. Two of the captives freed on Saturday had been in Hamas's hands for about 10 years. Four others were taken during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which prompted the Gaza war. Omer Wenkert Image A poster of Omer Wenkert at the site of the festival in southern Israel where he was abducted. Credit... Amir Cohen/Reuters Omer Wenkert, 23, was kidnapped during the Oct. 7 assault as Palestinian militants attacked a music festival, the Tribe of Nova, being held near the Gaza border. Videos and photographs from the time of the attack show him being restrained, stripped to his underwear and surrounded by armed men in the back of a truck as he was taken away to Gaza. He was in touch with his family on the morning of the attack and had said that he was afraid. Relatives later saw video of his abduction. His grandmother, Tsili Wenkert, a Holocaust survivor who said that she had been saved by the Soviet Army, appealed to Russian officials for help in securing her grandson's release. Mr. Wenkert managed a restaurant in central Israel and was supposed to start a restaurant management course in college. His father, Shai Wenkert, pleaded for his freedom near Mr. Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem on the first anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks. In a speech to a group of other relatives of hostages and their supporters, he said: 'A whole year in which time has stopped. I'm still on the same day.' Eliya Cohen Image A handout photo of Eliya Cohen. Credit... Bring Them Home Now Eliya Cohen, who was 27 when he was captured, had also been at the Nova music festival. He took cover with other festival attendees when militants threw grenades into their shelter and stormed it, ordering Mr. Cohen and two other men out with them, according to his girlfriend, Ziv Abud from Tel Aviv, one of the bunker's few survivors. Ms. Abud had gone to the festival with Mr. Cohen, her nephew and her nephew's girlfriend. Of the four, she was the only one to make it home. Mr. Cohen was shot in the leg during the raid, she said, and she hid with him under a pile of dead bodies until she felt him pulled away from her. Mr. Cohen's mother, Sigalit Cohen, told The Guardian in December 2023 that she had quit her job as an accountant to lobby for the release of the captives. Near the first anniversary of the war and hostage crisis, she wrote in an editorial addressing Israelis: 'Have we learned anything from that cursed day? Have we taken it upon ourselves to be better?' Hisham al-Sayed Image A handout photograph of Hisham al-Sayed. Credit... Bring Them Home Now Hisham al-Sayed is a member of Israel's Arab Bedouin minority from the town of Hura. He is one of two Israeli hostages, along with Hadar Goldin, who were captured by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip many years before the Oct. 7 raids. Mr. al-Sayed entered Gaza in 2015 and was not seen again until 2022, when Hamas released a video purporting to show him lying in a bed looking dazed and wearing an oxygen mask. Mr. al-Sayed has schizophrenia, according to his family, and had attempted to enter Gaza before. Hamas accused Mr. al-Sayed of being an Israeli soldier and was thought to be holding him to pressure Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. In 2017, a Human Rights Watch investigation concluded that Mr. al-Sayed was not affiliated with the Israeli military or government. After Hamas captured hundreds of hostages in the Oct. 7 assault, the families of captives who had been lobbying for their relatives' release for years joined forces with relatives of the newer hostages. Mr. al-Sayed's father, Shaban al-Sayed, said that the family was awaiting his son's return with deep anxiety. 'We don't know in what condition he'll return,' he said. 'We're waiting for him — and when we see him, we'll know how much we have to celebrate.' Avera Mengistu Image A cutout poster of Avera Mengistu at a site in Tel Aviv. Credit... Hannah Mckay/Reuters Mr. Mengistu, now 38, is the longest-held living Israeli hostage in Gaza. In 2014, nearly two weeks after a cease-fire ended a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, Mr. Mengistu was seen in security camera footage walking along the beach before crossing a fence dividing Israel from Gaza. Born in Ethiopia, Mr. Mengistu immigrated to Israel with his family when he was 5 and lived in the coastal city of Ashkelon, some 10 miles north of Gaza. His older brother told Israeli media that Mr. Mengistu had been deeply affected by the death of another sibling and faced serious mental health issues. Mr. Mengistu was apparently last seen in a video released by Hamas in January 2023, though the footage could not be independently verified. As with Mr. al-Sayed, Human Rights Watch later assessed that he was a civilian with a history of mental health problems. Omer Shem Tov Image A sign calling for the release of Omer Shem Tov in Tel Aviv. Shem Tov was 20 when he was abducted alongside two friends at the Nova music festival. His friends — Maya Regev and her brother, Itay Regev — were released during a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas in November 2023. In December 2023, after their release, the Regevs appeared in a video together wearing T-shirts that bore the face of Mr. Shem Tov, pleading for his return. 'Every day there is like hell,' Ms. Regev said from a wheelchair, having undergone surgeries for a gunshot wound in her leg. 'I have a friend named Omer, and I really, really miss him,' Itay said. 'I know what he is going through in there, and I know how frightening it is.' Mr. Shem Tov's older brother, Amit Shem Tov, expressed dismay after the end of the last truce. 'The end of the cease-fire is the worst thing that could have happened because it seriously delays the release of my brother,' he said. Tal Shoham Image A handout photograph of Tal Shoham. Credit... Bring Them Home Now Tal Shoham was 38 when he was captured from Kibbutz Be'eri. His wife, Adi Shoham, and their son and daughter, ages 8 and 3 at the time, were freed in the first cease-fire deal. Early last year, Mr. Shoham's father, Gilad Korngold, was among a group of relatives of hostages who burst into an Israeli Parliament meeting to demand action on the abductees. 'The danger is increasing every day that passes,' Mr. Korngold said in an interview afterward. 'Israel and the relevant countries in the region need to sit at the table — without eating or sleeping — and make this terrible situation end.' On the first anniversary of the attack, Mr. Shoham's family was still waiting. His mother, Nitza Korngold, like other Israelis frustrated with the government's lack of progress on a hostage release agreement, boycotted the official ceremony and attended an alternative commemoration. 'My dear Tal, if you can see or hear me, we all miss you so much,' she said. 'We are doing everything to bring you and all the hostages home soon. We will not give up on you.'
