Former Hamas hostage Eliya Cohen married his longtime partner, Ziv Aboud, on Wednesday evening in an emotional ceremony attended by approximately 1,000 guests at Ronit Farm, nearly six months after his release from captivity in Gaza.

The couple, who have been together for nearly a decade, celebrated their wedding less than a year after becoming engaged following Cohen’s return to Israel. They were escorted to the wedding canopy by Israeli singer Amir Benayoun, who performed his song Nitzachta Iti Hakol (“You Won Everything With Me”), adding special significance to the occasion.

Cohen was abducted by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack after taking shelter in the roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im that later became known as the “Shelter of Death.” Aboud survived the massacre by hiding beneath the bodies of those who were killed.

Cohen was held hostage in Gaza for 505 days before being released in February 2025 as part of a hostage agreement.

מרגש ❤️

״אבא שבשמיים, תודה רבה״: שורד השבי אליה כהן שהתחתן הערב עם שורדת הנובה זיו עבוד מילא את הבטחתו מהתקופה בשבי חמאס להודות תחת החופה לקדוש ברוך הוא ולומר ‘שמע ישראל’ אם יזכה להגיע לרגע הזה. pic.twitter.com/O0x98Wx6Ay

— יקי אדמקר (@YakiAdamker) August 19, 2026

The couple first met through Israel’s trance music community. In a previous interview, Aboud recalled that she initiated their relationship after responding to one of Cohen’s social media posts and later messaging him on Instagram. He subsequently invited her to his military beret ceremony, where their relationship began.

Following Cohen’s abduction, Aboud learned that he had already planned to propose marriage before the October 7 attack.

“His mother told me he had bought a ring and told everyone except me,” she said in an earlier interview. “He wanted to surprise me.”

On the morning of October 7, Cohen and Aboud attended the Nova music festival together with Aboud’s nephew, Amit Ben Avida, and his girlfriend, Karin Schwarzman. When Hamas terrorists attacked the festival, the four fled to a roadside bomb shelter along Route 232.

The shelter became the scene of one of the deadliest massacres of the day. Sixteen people, including Ben Avida and Schwarzman, were murdered after taking refuge there. Of the 27 festivalgoers inside, only seven survived.

Aboud later recounted how Hamas terrorists removed several captives from the shelter, including Cohen, before opening fire.

“They started taking people out, including Eliya, and then the shooting began,” she recalled. “Many bodies fell on top of me and essentially saved my life. After about three hours I finally got up. I found Amit and Karin dead. I looked for Eliya but couldn’t find him. I thought he had been murdered until I later saw a video showing he had been taken alive to Gaza.”

Cohen was abducted from the shelter alongside Or Levy, Alon Ohel and Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was later murdered in captivity.

After returning to Israel, Cohen revisited the shelter and paid tribute to Aner Shapira, who was killed after repeatedly throwing Hamas grenades back out of the shelter in an effort to save those inside.

“Out of nowhere, he said, ‘We can’t let them kill us like this,'” Cohen recalled of Shapira’s final acts of heroism.

Wednesday’s wedding marked a joyful milestone for the couple after nearly two years marked by tragedy, uncertainty and separation, celebrating a new beginning following one of the darkest chapters of their lives.