Maureen Denny

They are living each day as if time was suspended on October 7th, and live in ambiguous grief, desperate for news, and now travelling the world and speaking to whoever will listen to them to spread awareness about the hostages’ plight, as many remain unaware that 134 people still remain kidnapped in Gaza. Not all are believed to be alive, and time is running out for those who are. Hostage negations are ongoing in Doha right now. If ever there was a time to make your voice heard and demand their release, it’s now. I hope beyond hope Eliya will get to put that ring on Ziv’s finger, and Ron will get to walk Gil down the aisle. Please help them by sharing their story. 🙏 #BringThemHome @bringhomenow

Ziv has since found a video of the terrorists taking Eliya to Gaza. She only found out through his Mum, after he was abducted, that he’d already bought her a ring and planned to ask her to marry him. There was no news of Ron until 57 days after he was last heard from, when his family were told he’d been taken hostage, and he’d been injured, they don’t know how badly. They’ve heard nothing since, now more than 160 days in captivity. The hostage families know of sexual abuse both male and female hostages have suffered, as well as physical and mental torture, and near starvation. They have no idea what condition their loved ones are in, or even if they are still alive.

Ron Benjamin loves rock music and was planning to buy tickets to go and see @U2 in Vegas. He and Gil were more like best friends than father and daughter, and as a pair loved drinking beer and going on rollercoasters, sometimes too close together with unintended consequences 🍻🎢🤢 He loved cycling and on October 7th he’d decided to go for an early morning bike ride in the south for the holiday, when terrorists attacked.

Ziv last saw Eliya (27) on October 7th. They’d been to a music festival to enjoy a national public holiday, dance and celebrate peace, when Hamas terrorists parachuted in, armed to the teeth. Ziv and Eliya hid, crammed into in a bomb shelter designed for 10 people, when terrorists threw a number of grenades at the people inside. Ziv survived as the blasts caused the lifeless bodies of a number of the people in front to land on top of her, sheltering her from the full force of the explosives. After a few hours under the pile, in and out of consciousness, Ziv made her way out to avoid suffocating. Of the 29 people sheltering there, only 6 survived. Her boyfriend, Eliya, was injured and kidnapped to Gaza.

The problem for these girls, is that two of the most important men in their lives are missing, and they haven’t had any news of them for over 5 months. The people in question are Ziv and her boyfriend, Eliya Cohen, and Gil and her Dad, Ron Benjamin (pictured on the right side of her father, with her sister, Shay to his left).

The first girl is in her mid-20s, she and her boyfriend have known each other since they were 14, they’ve been together for 7 years. He’s 27, and just started his own business doing AirBnB rentals. They’ve travelled the world together, love visiting different countries and dance music. They have a great friendship group and are really in love.

I met two lovely girls this week, both in their 20s, both waiting for their boyfriends to propose 💍💕 Both couples have been together happily for years, both want to get married, and one boyfriend even bought a ring months ago! But neither has proposed yet… Can you guess what’s stopping them?! THREAD 🧵