Love Is Finding a Way Even in Shelters
Are you sitting in a bomb shelter wishing you had someone to hug? You are probably not alone. Hugging is a great stress reliever and hearing sirens and having to run into a shelter is certainly a stressful event.
But don’t despair, there’s an app that can help you look for love in a bomb shelter. While the Hooked app wasn’t developed with shelter romance in mind, reported The Wall Street Journal, the cofounders by Noa Barazani and Roi Revach saw the potential when the war began.
Using the app to find fellow singles underground, Barazani told the WSJ, “It essentially turned a stressful, confined environment into a way for people to introduce themselves and talk.”
Hooked App
The Hooked app was created in 2025, but it is not what people would consider a typical dating app. According to The Jerusalem Post, you do not swipe on the people you are interested in and then wait for a reply. The app was created to allow singles to find each other at events.
While singles do upload profiles to the app and can browse a list of events that they can register to attend. Upon arriving, just swipe the QR code and you will get a list of singles who watch what you are looking for. If two people match, they can start chatting on the app or just look for them at the event.
“Maybe the boldest move isn’t downloading another app. Maybe it’s looking up. Because no one falls in love with a profile, “ Barazani told The Jerusalem Post. “They fall in love with a person standing right in front of them.”
Since “Operation Roaring Lion” began, the co-founders adapted it so people can organize events at their shelter and post the OR code at the entrance. So far, five events have been held in Tel Aviv shelters.
Positive Reactions
Singles were introduced to the bomb shelter events when a tweet on X by Yael Bar Tur on Sunday, March 1, went viral. She wrote: “Of course, some genius Israelis invented an app where you can scan a barcode and see who’s single in the shelter. She attached the link to Hooked.
The tweet was reposted by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee who wrote; “With the entire country on ‘shelter in place’ mode, we should have expected something like this! They call Israel ‘Start-Up Nation’ for a reason. Someday they will tell their kids, ‘We met on a dating app in a shelter while dodging ballistic missiles.’”
Despite years of war, Israelis are still optimistic. The chance to fall in love in a time of missiles falling, can help replace fear with hope for the future.
