The mother of an Israeli man taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023, Herut Nimrodi says she still does not know if her son is dead or alive, but has real hope that US President Donald Trump’s peace plan will bring the return of all the hostages held in Gaza.

Nimrodi told newsmen that she was fearing the worst for her son Tamir, a non-combat soldier, but she was clinging to hope that he’s still hanging on two years after his abduction.

She said he was the only Israeli hostage whose family had not been told if they were alive or dead.

The peace plan proposed by Trump has been gaining momentum, with indirect talks expected to continue on Tuesday between Hamas and Israel to end the war and return the hostages.

“They have been trying to create an agreement for a while but it didn’t take off. This time it feels different,” Ms Nimrodi said. “There is real hope that this is the one, this is the last deal.”

She said it was particularly important that all hostages living and dead – would be released in the plan’s first phase.

“It’s urgent to release the hostages – those that are still alive, and even the ones that have passed. We don’t know what state their bodies are in. We have to release them so the families have some kind of closure. Even the families that got the message that their loved ones are deceased, they don’t accept it because they need proof.”

Tamir is one of 47 hostages kidnapped on 7 October who remain in Gaza 20 of them are believed to be still alive.

Tamir Nimrodi pictured with his mother and other family members

The last time she saw her son was in a video of his abduction posted on social media on 7 October 2023.

“My youngest daughter – she was 14 at the time – came screaming that she had seen her brother being abducted on Instagram,” she recalled.

“I saw Tamir wearing his pyjamas. He was barefoot. He had no glasses on. He can hardly see without them. He was terrified.”

Since seeing her son – an education officer in the Israeli military who was 18 at the time – forced into a jeep and driven away, “fading away into Gaza”, she has received no signs of life.

“He’s the only Israeli with no indication about what happened or where exactly he is,” she said.

The fate of a Nepalese hostage, Bipin Joshi, is also unknown.