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Former hostages Matan Zangauker and Ilana Gritzewsky become engaged

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Former hostage Matan Zangauker and his girlfriend, former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, have become engaged, according to a photo posted Sunday overnight by Matan’s mother Einav.

Einav Zangauker, who became famous for her ceaseless lobbying for her son’s release over two years following the October 7 attack, posted a photo of Matan and Ilana drinking champagne by a “Will you marry me” sign. A giant guitar-shaped building in the background placed the photo at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida.

“My picture of victory,” Einav wrote. “Ilana & Matan.”

Matan Zangauker, 26, was freed in October after two years in captivity. He was kidnapped by terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz with Gritzewsky, 31, on Oct. 7, 2023.

During the attack, the two jumped out of the window of the safe room of their home and ran in separate directions after Palestinian terrorists shot at their door. Gritzewsky said gunmen seized her and put her between two men on a motorcycle while her head and face were covered. Her captors would later confirm to her that Zangauker was also a hostage.

Speaking to Channel 12 in November, Matan Zangauker said that, as he too was driven into Gaza on a motorcycle on October 7, he was greeted by “children, women, old people, lined up with sticks, with rocks, with pipes, and they started to hit me, to beat me.”

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© The Times of Israel