‘A great joy’: Hundreds celebrate as former Gaza hostage Bilal Ziyadne gets married

Former Hamas hostage Bilal Ziyadne got married in the southern city of Rahat Friday night, almost exactly three years after he was released from captivity in the first hostage deal after the October 7, 2023, attack. The wedding in the major Bedouin city was attended by hundreds, according to Hebrew media reports, which did not identify the bride. “A lot of people came to celebrate with us,” his brother Muhammad told the Maariv daily. “Our sister got married about two months ago and it was a great joy.”

Ziyadne was kidnapped from Kibbutz Holit in southern Israel on the morning of October 7 where he was working as Hamas terrorists invaded the community. He was one of four members of the Ziyadne family to be taken captive from the kibbutz that day, along with his father Youssef, older brother Hamza, and younger sister Aisha. Other members of their family were killed during the attack, and another relative saved dozens of people from the Nova music festival.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Bilal and Aisha, aged 18 and 17 at the time of their capture, respectively, were released on November 30, 2023, as part of the first temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel. This handout picture released by the Government Press Office (GPO) on December 1, 2023, shows former hostages 18-year-old Bilal Ziyadne (R) and 17-year-old Aisha Ziyadne (L) reunited with a relative at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, following their release by Hamas on November 30, 2023. (GPO / AFP) Shortly after his release in November 2023, Bilal said that the Hamas terrorists kidnapped him and his family members even though they knew they were Arabs.

“I told them we were Arabs. They said to us, even though we’re Arabs, they’re kidnapping us,” he recounted to Channel 13 in December 2023, just weeks after his release. Advertisement He said he was held together with his relatives. While Bilal and Aisha were released during the initial deal due to their age — both were under 19 at the time — their father and brother were not released, and were later found dead in the Strip. Their father Youssef’s remains were found in a Gaza tunnel on January 8, 2025, and brother Hamza’s murder was confirmed a few days later.

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