Tamir Nimrodi, an 18-year-old Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and later killed in captivity, made what his father described as a “brilliant” move in a desperate attempt to save his life: he told his captors he was from Iraq.
Speaking Thursday after his son’s funeral at the Kfar Saba military cemetery, Alon Nimrodi revealed details of the deception for the first time. “While being transported to Gaza with four armed terrorists, alongside Ron Sherman and Nik Beizer, they asked Nik where he was from. He said ‘Israel’ and was beaten and cursed,” Nimrodi said. “When they asked Tamir, he calmly said, ‘I’m from Iraq.’”
“He realized that saying he was from Israel wouldn’t help him,” the father told Channel 12. “He made up a story on the spot. Anyone who knew Tamir knew he was a master storyteller. He could convince you of anything. It was a small act of heroism, between him and himself.”
Tamir Nimrodi was a staff sergeant and educational noncommissioned officer in the IDF’s Gaza District Coordination and Liaison Unit. He was abducted during the Hamas-led assault that triggered the war and is believed to have been killed two days later in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza.
According to intelligence provided to the family, the building where Nimrodi was held had become a gathering point for numerous Hamas operatives. The IDF, unaware that hostages were inside, bombed the location. “The building was marked by military intelligence as a terrorist hub,” his father said. “In a way—because of that, or despite it—dozens of terrorists were eliminated.”
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Alon Nimrodi at the funeral of his son Tamir, a Hamas hostage killed in Gaza
(Photo: Yair Sagi)
During the funeral, Nimrodi’s father emotionally addressed his son: “You suffered. You were in the hands of your brutal captors for just over 48 hours—not in the safe arms of your mother and father. Just minutes after you were kidnapped, you made a brilliant move—one that remained secret until now and will be remembered. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to save you.”
He also addressed the broader national trauma of the hostage crisis. “Now we are part of two painful circles—families of the hostages and families of the fallen,” he said. “I want to thank the heroic IDF soldiers risking their lives to bring the hostages home. We must not forget: 19 hostages remain in Gaza. It is our national responsibility to bring them back. The responsibility of the State of Israel is immense.”