Eight months after returning from captivity in Gaza, Eliya Cohen, who was held hostage for 505 days, proposed to his longtime partner, Ziv Aboud, during an emotional ceremony in Jaffa on Thursday.
The engagement took place at the Setai Hotel, in the presence of close friends, family and fellow survivor Or Levy, who was also kidnapped from what became known as the “shelter of death” during the October 7 Nova music festival massacre. The couple’s engagement follows Cohen’s vow to wait until all living hostages—including Alon Ahel and Elkana Bohbot—were freed before getting married.
Former hostage proposes to partner Ziv Aboud
(Video: Or Geffen)
Cohen and Aboud have been together for eight years. In a 2024 interview with Laisha magazine, Aboud recounted their first encounter through Israel’s trance music scene. “We were part of the same music communities and connected online when I replied to one of his stories,” she said. “I messaged him on Instagram, and he invited me to his IDF beret ceremony. I came—and that’s how it started.”
She also revealed that Cohen had secretly planned to propose before being taken captive. “His mother told me he had bought a ring and told everyone except me. He wanted it to be a surprise,” she said.
On the morning of October 7, the couple attended the Nova music festival with Abod’s nephew Amit Ben Avida and his girlfriend Karin Schwartzman. The four sought refuge in a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im. Of the 27 festivalgoers who hid there, 16 were murdered. Aboud was among seven survivors, while Cohen was taken hostage along with Or Levy, Alon Ohel and the late Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Amit and Karin were among those killed.
Aboud later recalled the harrowing experience: “The terrorists started pulling people out—including Eliya—and then they opened fire. People collapsed on top of me and saved my life. After three hours, I got up and saw Amit and Karin dead. I looked for Eliya and thought he was killed—until I saw a video on Telegram showing he was taken alive to Gaza.”
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Ziv Aboud walking through Tel Aviv in a yellow wedding dress
(Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
After his release, Cohen returned to the shelter to honor the bravery of Aner Shapira, who was killed while deflecting grenades thrown into the shelter. “Out of nowhere he said, ‘We can’t let them kill us like this,’” Cohen recalled.
In March, during the fight for Cohen’s release, Aboud drew public attention by walking through Tel Aviv during the Purim holiday in a striking yellow dress—symbolizing her pain in place of a wedding gown. Adorned with chains, images of the hostages and a bleeding heart with Cohen’s photo, she told reporters: “Instead of standing under a chuppah in a white dress, I’m wearing yellow and holding a sign that says, ‘My fiancé is held hostage in Gaza.’”