Families of the estimated 24 remaining living hostages in Hamas captivity are heartbroken the fighting has resumed.
Yehuda Cohen is the father of 20-year-old Nimrod Cohen, an IDF soldier kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th.
"We're in it for 17 months," Cohen told KNX News' Emily Valdez by phone from Israel. "There's no getting used to, but we're in it, and we're fighting from all angles possible."
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Nimrod was slated to be released in the second stage of the ceasefire deal, but with the war pickup up again, he remains imprisoned.
"We said it for more than a year. Only a permanent ceasefire [will] release all the hostages," Cohen said.
While the Israeli government blames Hamas for breaking the ceasefire, Cohen blames Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he wants to be at war so he can stay in power.
Cohen's message to his son is, "We are working on it. We'll never give up. We will set you free."
Cohen is confident his son is still alive thanks to information provided by recently released hostages he was being held with.
Still, as reports of strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds emerged Tuesday, it became clear that time is of the essence. Netanyahu called the deadly strikes 'only the beginning.'
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