Two former hostages have got engaged, according to a photograph shared online by the mother of the groom-to-be.
In the image, Matan Zangauker and Ilana Gritzewsky can be seen smiling and celebrating with champagne flutes in front of a large heart-shaped floral display surrounding an electric sign bearing the words “Will you marry me?”
Zangauker, 26, was freed in October after two years in captivity, having been abducted with Gritzewsky, 31, by terrorists at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 2023. Gritzewsky was freed in November 2023 after nearly two months in captivity.
On October 7, the couple jumped from the window of their safe room and ran in separate directions after terrorists shot at their door.
Gunmen grabbed Gritzewsky and put her between two men on a motorcycle while her head and face were covered, she has said. She has also recounted being sexually assaulted by her captors.
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 12 in November, Zangauker said as he too was driven into Gaza he was met by “children, women, old people, lined up with sticks, with rocks, with pipes, and they started to hit me, to beat me.”
Posting the photograph online of the couple appearing to celebrate their engagement, Zangauker’s mother, Einav Zangauker, described the image as her “picture of victory”.
The pair were celebrating on a terrace with a giant guitar-shaped building in the background indicating the photo was taken near the Guitar Hotel in Florida.
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