'I just want my son home' Family's 60-day wait for news of hostage

On the Sabbath morning of 7 October, Sigalit Cohen could hear alarms sounding from her home in Tzur Hadassah, a village on Jerusalem's outskirts. Hours later she learned of the unprecedented attack by Hamas in southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage, including her son.

- Geneva Abdul

Eliya Cohen, 27, was at the Supernova music festival with his girlfriend, Ziv, three miles from the Gaza border when Hamas militants attacked partygoers. At least 260 people were killed on the festival grounds. Israel's offensive in Gaza in response has killed more than 15,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health authorities.

"It was a very bad dream. I didn't know what to do. I was in shock," Cohen, 55, said. Within hours of the alarms, Cohen received a phone call from Ziv's sister, telling her of the attack. Ziv was missing but Eliya was said to be OK, confirmed by a photograph of him in the hospital. However, an hour later she received a Facebook message from Eliya's high school friend, asking if she knew her son had been abducted.