Israeli hostage held captive by Hamas for 505 days weds longtime love who pleaded for his release

Mazel tov! An Israeli couple separated by Hamas for more than a year during the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack have gotten married, closing one dark chapter in their lives as they turn the page to a bright and sunny future. Eliya Cohen and Ziv Abud, who were attending the Nova Music Festival when the Iran-backed terror group launched their cowardly attack, tied the knot Wednesday at Ronit Farm in Israel in front of 1,000 jubilant guests. 3 Former Hamas hostage Eliya Cohen and Nova Music Festival massacre survivor Ziv Abud tie the knot in Israel. @AmitSegal/X The couple arrived at the festival the day of the attack with Ziv’s nephew, Amit Ben Avida, and his girlfriend, Karin Schwarzman, and fled to a roadside shelter on Route 232 along with dozens of others who sought refuge when the bullets started flying. Avida and Schwarzman were among the 17 people murdered inside the shelter, which came to be known as the “shelter of death.” Explore More Teen hiker found dead after family mistakenly told she was alive during 8-day search Justin Trudeau wields toilet plunger in cringeworthy dance with Katy Perry in hardware store Fitness coach dies after collapsing during high-intensity endurance competition Abud hid among the dead bodies to evade capture, but Cohen was snatched by Hamas along with two other hostages. Former hostage Eliya Cohen and massacre survivor Ziv Abud got married this evening. pic.twitter.com/iZNRlUvjFN — Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) August 19, 2026 The terrorists took Cohen, along with three others – including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was executed by Hamas terrorists in August, 2024. Cohen was held captive in Gaza for 505 days, enduring being chained, tortured, starved, burned and hung by his feet — all while suffering from an untreated bullet wound from the attack on the festival, where 370 innocent Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas gunmen and dozens were taken hostage. 3 The couple were escorted to their wedding canopy by Israeli singer-songwriter Amir Benayoun, who performed his song “Nitzachta Iti Hakol” — “You Won Everything With Me.” @AmitSegal/X Gruesome video released last June showed Cohen covered in blood in the bed of a white truck as the terrorists gleefully brandished their weapons and celebrated the capture of festivalgoers. “[The terrorists] started taking people out, including Cohen, and then the shooting began. A lot of people fell on top of me and basically saved me. Only after three hours did I dare to get up, and then I saw Amit and Karin dead,” Ziv recalled to Ynet Global . 3 Ziv Abud never gave up hope during the 505 days her love was held in the clutches of Hamas. Paulina Patimer “I looked for Eliya and couldn’t find him. I thought they had murdered him, and only later did I see on Telegram the video showing that he had been abducted alive to Gaza.” He was finally released in February 2025. After Cohen’s abduction, Abud learned he had been planning to pop the question . “His mother told me he had bought a ring — and told everyone except me. He wanted to surprise me.” The couple was finally reunited against all odds, and are now looking toward a brighter future as husband and wife.