Eliya Cohen Survived 505 Days in Hamas Captivity. His Message: “I Won.”

Four people left home together for the Nova music festival on October 7. Only Ziv Abud came home that night. Her nephew Amit Ben Avida and his girlfriend Karin Schwartzman were murdered inside the roadside shelter where they had taken refuge. Her partner, Eliya Cohen, was shot, dragged from the shelter and kidnapped to Gaza. Ziv survived beneath the bodies of those murdered around her. Eliya survived 505 days in Hamas captivity, enduring chains, starvation, violence and psychological torture. For those 505 days, he believed Ziv was dead. For those same 505 days, she fought to bring him home. Asked what he would say today to the terrorists who abducted and tortured him, Eliya’s answer was simple: “I won. I’m here.” Two survivors of October 7. Two very different battles to stay alive. And a future Hamas failed to take from them.