Elya Cohen on October 7 went to the Nova festival with her fiancé, Ziv. With the start of Hamas’s attack, they fled to a shelter near Re’im. Ziv survived by hiding under bodies, but Elya was wounded and taken to Gaza.

She was held captive by Hamas for 505 days and spent much of that time in tunnels and in extremely harsh conditions. Elya was released in February 2025 and returned to Israel, to her family and her fiancé, and some time later she married Ziv. In this special interview, Elya and Ziv talk about the October 7 attack and what Elya went through during her captivity.