After sign of life from hostage Eliya Cohen, fiancé Ziv Aboud says she wants him back ‘soon and alive’

By Jessica Steinberg

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11 February 2025, 6:46 pm

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Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Ziv Aboud, the fiancé of hostage Eliya Cohen, attends a special committee for public inquiries at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on December 3, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Ziv Aboud, fiancé of hostage Eliya Cohen, talks about the signs of life received by Cohen’s family from recently released hostage Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, who were held with Eliya and hostage Alon Ohel until about four days before they were released on Saturday.

Based on what the released hostages told her, Aboud says Eliya appears to fear that she was killed on October 7, 2023. The two had run into a roadside shelter as they attempted to escape from the attack on the Nova rave festival.

Eliya had already been pulled out of the shelter and onto the Hamas terrorists’ pickup truck when they fired into the shelter, where Aboud had fallen unconscious, hidden under a pile of dead bodies.

“If Eliya saw that happening, I’ve tried to tell myself that maybe he saw me on TV or heard me on the radio or something,” says Aboud.

But Aboud and Cohen’s family have learned from returning hostages that Eliya and the other captives have had no connection with the outside world throughout the last 15 months, and know nothing about what’s going on in Israel.

They also know now that Eliya was shot in the foot in the shelter, something he told Aboud before he was taken hostage.

The last sign of life that Aboud and Cohen’s family had of Eliya was from a screenshot of a Hamas photo taken of him on October 7, showing him in a kind of hospital setting, his eyes full of terror, said Aboud.

Aboud says she now knows that Eliya has been tortured, is chained on his leg, fed maybe one pita each day and has lost more than 20 kilos. He has had no access to sunlight and no connection to what’s been going on in Israel.

Seeing the released hostages Sharabi and Levy in their depleted, skeletal state has been hard to process, says Aboud.

“I can’t believe how they came back,” she says. “They don’t talk that much yet, they haven’t been able to share the small details.”

“I just want Eliya to come back soon and alive,” says Aboud. “I hope this Saturday they will release more hostages like they’re supposed to do. I [just have] faith and hope.”

Eliya is on the list of hostages slated for release in the first phase of the deal.