It has been six months since Eliya Cohen was released, but he says that he cannot begin to recover as long as the other hostages are still being held.
I feel guilty when I eat. I feel guilty when I shower. I feel guilty when I go to the hospital, he says in an interview with CNN.
Currently, there are 22 living hostages and 27 dead remaining in Gaza, according to Israel's military. 251 people were taken as hostages during the Islamist group's terror attack on October 7, 2023.
Slept on the floor
The day of the attack, Eliya Cohen was at the music festival Nova with his girlfriend. When the attack began, he sought shelter in a concrete bunker with 30 others, but was found by the attackers. A grenade was thrown into the bunker and killed several people. Cohen and his girlfriend tried to hide under the dead.
Then he was taken as a hostage – without knowing that his girlfriend had survived – and spent large parts of the time in Gaza in an "abandoned" tunnel with three other hostages. Their legs were bound with motorcycle chains, he was allowed to shower every other month and did not brush his teeth for a year.
For eight months, we slept on the floor, my shoulder dislocated so many nights. We felt weak, he says to CNN.
Wants to see an agreement
Eliya Cohen only got a glimpse of Gaza when he was moved between tunnels, but describes it as an "apocalypse".
He believes that the only way to get the hostages back is through an agreement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must sit down at the negotiating table, he says.
I think they can bring all the hostages home in the same way that I came home.
