Berkeley woman with family held by Hamas hopes for their imminent release
BERKELEY -- While most Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season, Yael Nidam-Kirsht of Berkeley is stuck on Oct. 7. That's the day her sister-in-law, Rimon and Rimon's husband, Yagev, were kidnapped in Israel by Hamas terrorists.
"My life literally stopped on that day and every day," she said.
The last text anyone got from Rimon came at 8:30 a.m. on that fateful day when Rimon and her husband hid in a concrete safe room in a kibbutz in southern Israel.
Rimon and her husband disappeared after Hamas ruthlessly killed an estimated 1,200 hundred people and took 240 hostages. Since then, Nidam-Kirsht has gone from Ph.D. student to full-time activist, doing everything in her power to help bring back the hostages.
"I began to understand that I cannot be paralyzed. I cannot be depressed. I cannot mourn the people that I have lost," she said. "The only thing that I can do now is be an advocate and a voice for my sister-in-law because she needs me," she said.
Weeks after the attack, Hamas released a propaganda video in which Rimon can be seen without her customary glasses.
"She's captured by terrorists organization, held at gunpoint and she's not able to see," Nidam-Kirsht said. "I also look at her and I can see that she's very skinny so I know that she's lost a lot of weight."
Hamas has agreed to free 50 Israeli hostages in return for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and a four-day pause in fighting.
"We're very excited that it has come to fruition," Nidam-Kirsht said. "Even so, there's no guarantee that my personal family is going to be released this week. I see this deal as a great success that demonstrates that it is possible to release the hostages and it is possible to bring them home."
Israeli officials have expressed the cautious hope that Hamas may agree to release more hostages in exchange for extending the pause in fighting. Under the deal, Israel will prolong the pause for every 10 additional hostages.
"The top priority for Israel right now is getting these hostages back reunited with their families and so any short-term arrangement where we can get more people back especially women and children is a good idea," said Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council in the Bay Area. "At the same time, this is not the end of this conflict. Israel stated that its two goals is to return all 236 remaining hostages and eliminate Hamas from ruling Gaza."
As for Nidam-Kirsht, she and her friends planned a special Thanksgiving dinner with two empty chairs in honor of Rimon and Yagev.
"I do have a special gratitude to say to the American people who have supported the release of the hostages," she said. "I know in my heart that it's the pressure of the American people and the work of the American government that is bringing our families home and I'm incredibly grateful for each and every person that has worked and dedicated their time to bring the hostages home."