Two Years Captive: As Gaza Truce Talks Begin, a Mother’s Heart Remains on October 7th 

Two Years Captive: As Gaza Truce Talks Begin, a Mother’s Heart Remains on October 7th 

The calendar pages have turned, marking two full years since the world first learned the name Nova Festival. Two years since the shocking images of Hamas-led militants breaching the Gaza border barrier, a line that had long separated two irreconcilable realities. Yet for Viki Cohen, and for a nation still scarred, time has not moved on. It is frozen, held hostage in tunnels and hidden rooms, its passage measured not in seasons but in the agonizing silence between updates on a missing son. 

“It’s Rosh Hashanah, Kippur, Sukkot, but for us, it’s not,” Viki tells me, her voice a quiet testament to a resilience forged in despair. “It’s sad days, and we cannot celebrate until Nimrod will be back home.” 

This second anniversary of the October 7th attacks arrives not with a sense of conclusion, but amidst a fragile, tentative flicker of hope. Indirect negotiations, spurred by a new plan from the Trump administration, are underway, offering the most credible path in months to end a war that has reshaped the Middle East and redefined the limits of human suffering. But for the families of the 48 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza, hope is a painful currency. It’s the thing that keeps you going, and the thing that threatens to break you with every dashed expectation. 

The Day the Earth Stood Still: A Trauma That Redefined a Nation 

To understand the present stalemate, one must first grasp the profundity of the initial shock. The Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, was not a conventional military engagement. It was a multipronged assault designed to inflict maximum terror, targeting the very fabric of civilian life. Fighters paragliding into a music festival, a scene of peace and celebration turned into a killing field. Kibbutzim, communal villages symbolizing a particular Israeli dream of agrarian coexistence, were invaded house-by-house. The result was a slaughter that left 1,200 dead, the largest single-day loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, and saw roughly 250 people, from infants to the elderly, dragged into the Gaza Strip as captives. 

The Israeli psyche, built on a foundation of self-reliance and military strength, was shattered. The promise of the state—that it could provide security for its Jewish citizens—felt, for a moment, broken. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to “change the Middle East” was not just political rhetoric; it was a reflection of a national mandate for a response so decisive it would restore this shattered sense of security. 

The Retaliation and the Unfolding Catastrophe 

The Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) subsequent invasion of Gaza was launched with the stated aims of dismantling Hamas and returning the hostages. The military campaign has been one of the most intense of the 21st century. However, the human cost has been staggering, creating a humanitarian crisis of a scale that is difficult to comprehend. 

The numbers, as reported by health authorities in Gaza, tell a grim story: 

• More than 67,000 Palestinians killed, with many more thousands wounded and maimed. 

• Forced displacement of nearly the entire population of Gaza—over 2 million people. 

• Widespread malnutrition and declared famine in parts of the enclave, as aid access remains severely restricted. 

• Large swaths of infrastructure reduced to rubble, leaving a landscape of devastation where homes, hospitals, and schools once stood. 

This toll has become the central point of international discourse. While Israel’s longtime allies offered near-universal support in the immediate aftermath of October 7th, the prolonged war and its impact on civilians have fueled a global outcry. What was initially understood as a right to self-defense has, for many, morphed into a condemnation of collective punishment. This shift has breathed new life into diplomatic efforts to recognize a Palestinian state, a move that was largely stagnant before the war. 

The Multifront War: A Region on the Brink 

Netanyahu’s promise of a changed Middle East has also manifested beyond Gaza. Israel has engaged in a de facto multifront war, conducting strikes in: 

• Lebanon, against Hezbollah militants, leading to daily cross-border exchanges that have displaced tens of thousands on both sides. 

• Syria, targeting Iranian assets and infrastructure. 

• Yemen, in response to Houthi attacks on international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. 

• Iran itself, in a dramatic escalation that saw direct strikes on military targets. 

This regional conflagration underscores a central truth: the Gaza war was never contained. It has become the epicenter of a wider struggle for regional hegemony, pulling in proxies and drawing lines for future conflicts. 

The Human Anchor: Viki Cohen and the Agony of Waiting 

Amidst these vast geopolitical shifts, the story remains intensely, painfully personal. This is where we return to Viki Cohen and her son, Nimrod. 

Nimrod was 19, a teenager performing his mandatory military service, when he was kidnapped from his tank on October 7th. The image of him in his uniform, a young man on the cusp of life, has become a symbol of the hostage crisis. He is now 21. Two birthdays have passed in captivity. Two years of a young life stolen, spent in conditions his mother cannot allow herself to dwell on for long. 

“I think many, many of the people in Israel feel the same,” Viki says of her inability to celebrate Jewish holidays. “They feel that they cannot really celebrate unless the hostages will be back home.” 

Her activism—the interviews, the protests, the international delegations—is a mechanism of survival. It is a way to fight the powerlessness, to ensure her son is not just a statistic or a forgotten name in a news cycle that has long since moved on to other headlines. Her heart, as she says, “is still on Oct. 7.” This sentiment echoes across Israel, a nation caught between a desire to heal and a refusal to move on until every last citizen is accounted for. 

Adding a layer of tragic frustration is her belief that Nimrod’s freedom was once within reach. “He was due to be released in the second phase of the ceasefire that fell apart in March,” she states, a reference to the failed negotiations that collapsed amid a new wave of Israeli airstrikes. This “what if” hangs over the current talks, a ghost at the negotiating table reminding all parties of the consequences of failure. 

A Glimmer of Hope: The Trump Plan and the Path Forward 

The current negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, and now invigorated by a proposal from President Donald Trump, represent the most significant opportunity in months. While details are scarce, such plans typically involve a phased ceasefire, the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and a roadmap for a more permanent post-war governance of Gaza. 

The stakes could not be higher. For Hamas, a truce could secure its survival and the release of thousands of prisoners. For the Israeli government, it is a chance to bring its people home, but at the potential political cost of appearing to have left Hamas intact—a precarious position for a coalition reliant on hardline partners. 

But for the 48 families, and for a nation whose national trauma is now two years old, the politics are secondary. The calculation is simpler, and more human. It is about a mother who cannot celebrate a holiday, and a son who has spent a quarter of his adult life in hell. As this grim anniversary passes, the world watches the high-stakes diplomacy, but Viki Cohen waits. She waits for the day when time can finally start moving forward again, when her heart can leave October 7th behind and be whole once more.