Gilad Shalit, a former Israeli soldier who spent five years in Hamas captivity, is set to become a married man after proposing to his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day.
Shalit, 33, proposed to Nitzan Shabat, a social work student at Tel Aviv university, after 18 months together.
Over the course of their relationship the two documented every milestone on their respective social media accounts, and the announcement of their impending marriage was no exception.
The photo of the two with an engagement ring was posted on Instagram on February 14.
Shalit became a national figure in the summer of 2006, when he was kidnapped by Hamas on the Gaza Strip border. He was held captive in the enclave for five years and four months.
In 2011, he was released in one of the biggest prisoner swaps in Israeli history, with at least 1,027 mostly Palestinian prisoners being freed in exchage for the soldier.
Hamas military leader at the time, Ahmed Jabari, who was later assassinated by Israeli army, told the Arabic-speaking media that the prisoners released as part of the swap were responsible for the killing of 569 Israelis.