Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Nearly 500 days after being abducted by Hamas, Sasha Troufanov reunited Saturday with his mother Elena and partner Sapir Cohen in an emotional embrace after his release from captivity in Gaza. "I’m okay," he reassured them upon their first hug.
Troufanov, 29, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 along with Cohen, his mother and grandmother Irena Tati. His father, Vitaliy, was murdered in the attack. Elena and Irena, both Russian citizens, were released in November 2023 as part of an earlier hostage deal, while Troufanov remained in captivity for nearly 500 days.
live
Sasha Troufanov reunites with his mother Elena and partner Sapir
(Video: IDF, GPO)
live
Troufanov en route to the hospital
(Video: IDF)
In November, when Elena and Irena were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, they were surrounded by a jeering crowd. Footage from the release showed Irena smiling as she met a Red Cross representative. The two women were later transferred to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, where they were reunited with family and friends.
Following her release, Elena provided a rare sign of life from captivity when she appeared in a Hamas video alongside freed hostages Daniela Aloni and Rimon Buchstab-Kirsht.
live
Elena and Irena freed from Hamas captivity, November 2023
live
Troufanov and fellow hostages Iair Horn and Sagui Dekel-Chen handed over to Red Cross in Gaza
(Video: Reuters)
On October 7, Cohen and Troufanov had traveled to Nir Oz to visit his family. Cohen later recalled that he had an inexplicable feeling of dread. "Sasha didn’t want to go. He told me, ‘I don’t know why, but I feel like I want to cancel.’ I convinced him, and we went," she said.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
That morning, they awoke to a rocket barrage with no bomb shelter to take cover. "We got a message about a terrorist infiltration. We didn’t even know what that meant," Cohen said. They hid under the bed, clinging to one another as they heard Hamas terrorists storming homes, executing residents and setting houses ablaze.
"I just kept repeating my prayer over and over," she recalled in an interview with Ynet. "The fear was unbearable. My whole body was shaking, I was sweating. I kept thinking, God, how is this how my life ends? I haven’t even done anything meaningful yet. Then, when they pulled me out, I saw Sasha on his knees, his face covered in blood. I thought that was the end."
The couple was separated, and Cohen was forced onto a motorcycle and taken into Gaza. "As we drove, people in the streets came to hit me, to touch me," she said. After an hours-long trek—barefoot over nails and debris—she was forced into Hamas’ underground tunnel network, where she remained in total darkness.
"There’s no light at all," she described. "Sometimes a terrorist would turn on a flashlight, and still, I couldn’t see anything. The air was so thick it felt like I couldn’t breathe."
Humidity made conditions unbearable. "The mattresses were soaked with moisture and covered in mold. The stench was overwhelming. You couldn’t sleep."