Israeli captive appears in new hostage video

Islamic Jihad releases 30-second clip featuring 27-year-old Israeli man taken into captivity on October 7th.

By World Israel News Staff

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization released a hostage video on Tuesday featuring footage of an Israeli man taken hostage during the invasion of southern Israel on October 7th.

The man, 27-year-old Alexander “Sasha” Trufanov, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7th alongside his mother, Yelena Trufanov, grandmother, Irena Tati, and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen.

The undated video is the first sign of life released by Islamic Jihad of Trufanov since his abduction.

In the 30-second video clip, Trufanov provides his identity and vows to provide details in the coming days of what has happened to him and other hostages in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Trufanov’s mother and grandmother, 50-year-old Yelena Trufanov and 73-year-old Irena Tati, were released by Hamas on November 29th, as a gesture to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Trufanov family immigrated to Israel from Russia in 1998.

Cohen, an Israeli citizen without ties to Russia, was freed from Gaza as part of the November ceasefire deal and hostage release.

Trufanov’s father, Vitaly Trufanov, was murdered by terrorists during the October 7th invasion.

Yelena Trufanov was featured in an October 30th hostage video released by Hamas, alongside fellow hostages Danielle Aloni and Rimon Buchshtab Kirsht.

At the time of the attack, Trufanov and Cohen were living in Ramat Gan, and were visiting his family in Nir Oz.

Prior to his abduction, Trufanov was employed as an engineer at Annapurna Labs, an Israeli company owned by online retail giant Amazon.