Islamic Jihad, a group allied to Hamas, released a new video on Wednesday of one of the Israelis taken hostage on October 7, 2023 during the Palestinian Islamist group’s attack on Israel from Gaza. The video shows a young bearded man identifying himself as Sasha Trupanov. Speaking in Hebrew, he alluded to the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon launched in the second half of September and to Israeli air raids against Iran in late October, and called on Israelis to step up demonstrations aimed at putting pressure on the government with a view to the release of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip.
This is the third video released by Islamic Jihad of Sacha Trupanov, a 29-year-old Russian-Israeli, kidnapped with his partner Sapir Cohen, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where the couple was visiting the young man’s family. Its broadcast comes a few days after Qatar announced it was ceasing its mediation between the Israeli authorities and Hamas, with a view to obtaining a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages. Sapir Cohen, along with Sasha Trupanov’s mother and grandmother, were released during the only truce in the war triggered by the Hamas attack. Father Vitali Trupanov, the hostage’s father, was killed on October 7.*
“I am relieved to see my son alive, but I am very worried to hear what he says”
This “horrible video (…) underlines the urgency of the return of the (…) hostages”, who “have no more time to lose”, after the ordeals they have endured and while they ” face an increased risk of losing their lives after more than a year of detention,” said the Families Forum, the main association of hostage relatives, in a statement. “I am relieved to see my son alive, but I am very concerned to hear what he is saying. I urge that every effort be made to secure his immediate release and that of all other hostages,” she said. declared his mother, Yelena Trupanov, quoted in the press release.
During the unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos on October 7, 2023, 251 people were kidnapped on Israeli soil. A total of 97 hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.
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