Maya Regev, a survivor of Hamas captivity, mourned fellow hostage Guy Illouz after his body was formally identified Tuesday at the National Center of Forensic Medicine.
Regev, who met Illouz while they were both held at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, shared a personal tribute on Instagram, reflecting on their brief but profound connection during captivity.
“When your name was released yesterday, I held myself together,” she wrote. “I waited for confirmation that it was really you—that you were really coming home.”
Regev recalled the first time they met at Shifa Hospital. “You told me the terrorists said a surprise was coming. You thought maybe they’d bring you sage tea—and then I walked in,” she wrote. “Just hearing you say that revealed so much about who you were—humble, special, someone who loved the simple things in life.”
Regev described how their bond formed instantly under the harshest of conditions. “In such a dark and terrible place, you gave me a giant ray of light. You had been alone, unconscious and tied to a hospital bed for a week before I arrived. We spoke about the simplest, purest things,” she wrote.
Illouz, she said, found solace in the idea that his captivity spared him from attending the funeral of his close friend, Alon Werber, who was murdered in front of him during the Oct. 7 attacks. “Not long after you said that, you were no longer alive,” she wrote.
“From that moment,” Regev added, “I promised myself I would return not only to my own family, but to yours as well. I felt as if you were waiting for me, so I could tell your story. And so I did. Now you are home, and the circle is finally closed. Rest in peace, Guy.”
According to Regev, Illouz had been abducted unconscious and remained alone, bound to a hospital bed for a week. Just a day and a half before his death, she was placed in the same room. During one of their conversations, he told her his mother was “the strongest woman in the world” and vowed that if he ever made it home, he would never let go of her.