‘My victory picture’: Former hostages Matan Zangauker & Ilana Gritzewsky engaged to marry

Just over two months after returning from 738 days in Hamas captivity, former hostage Matan Zangauker proposed to his girlfriend and fellow captivity survivor, Ilana Gritzewsky, Matan’s mother Einav announced on Sunday.

Einav Zangauker became one of the most vocal and controversial leaders of the hostage protest movement, campaigning tirelessly for the return of her son.

On Sunday, she published a picture of Matan and Ilana with the caption, “My picture of victory. Ilana & Matan.”

In the picture, the two are seen drinking champagne after Matan proposed next to a sign saying, “Will You Marry Me?”

The picture was apparently taken on a roof next to the guitar-shaped building of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida.

Zangauker (26) and Gritzewsky (31) had met during their work and moved in together in Kibbutz Nir Oz about a year and a half before the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7, when they were abducted and held separately.

Gritzewsky was released in the first hostage release deal in November 2023 and has since campaigned alongside Einav Zangauker for the release of the other hostages.

In August, as part of a protest calling for the release of the hostages, Gritzewsky staged a symbolic wedding to Matan at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

Addressing the still captive Zangauker, Gritzewsky said, “if you hadn’t been abducted, we could already be married. I can’t stop thinking about what was taken from us – about the innocence and the love that were taken from us in one day. Our world was destroyed, and you’re not here with me to hug me, and I can’t strengthen you.”

“My love, I love you. I am fighting for you until you return – until you and all the hostages return. We will bring you back alive and recover together, and with God’s help we will build our Jewish home in Israel.”

Matan’s mother Einav Zangauker attended the ceremony with a black veil and the poles of the chuppah, the traditional Jewish wedding canopy, were held by Jon Polin, Michel Ilouz, Itzik Horn, and Yehuda Cohen, the fathers of murdered hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Guy Ilouz, and the freed hostages Nimrod Cohen and Eitan Horn, respectively.

Later that same month, Gritzewsky recounted her experiences in captivity before the UN Security Council in New York.

Gritzewsky, who made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) from Mexico, where her family still lives, recounted how she had been involved with international organizations such as the UN, UNICEF, and the Red Cross in her youth, “But when I needed them most – they were not there.”

In captivity in Gaza, she said she “never knew what to expect – night interrogations, being moved from one civilian home to another, or to a hospital. I was repeatedly used as a human shield. I spent time in tunnels.”

Addressing Zangauker, she said, “Stay strong, don’t lose hope. Your mother, your sister, Noni our dog, and I – we are all waiting for you. I am fighting for you.”

On Oct. 13, 2025, Matan Zangauker was released from Gaza after 738 days, together with the other 19 remaining survivors.

He later launched an online crowdfunding campaign to help with his rehabilitation, writing, “I am finally home alongside the love of my life, Ilana. Thank God, we have been given the opportunity to begin a journey of recovery and to build a new life together as a couple, as we were before October 7.”