“My name is Sasha Trupanov […] I have been hostage for a year. » This is how the video broadcast by Islamic Jihad begins this Wednesday, November 13, 2024. The recording shows a young bearded man standing in front of a green background, identifying himself as Sacha Trupanov. Speaking in Hebrew, he referred to the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon launched in the second half of September and the Israeli air raids against Iran at the end of October.
“Citizens of Israel, please do not forget us,” he implores, before calling on Israelis to intensify demonstrations aimed at putting pressure on the government to release 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.
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“No more time to waste”
Sapir Cohen, along with Sasha Trupanov’s mother and grandmother, were released during the only truce in the war triggered by the Hamas attack. Vitali Trupanov, the hostage’s father, was killed during the October 7 attacks.
This “terrible video […] underlines the urgency of the return of […] hostages”, Who “have no more time to waste”, after the trials they endured and while they “face an increased risk of losing their lives after more than a year of detention”, declared the Families Forum, the main association of relatives of hostages, in a press release.
“I am relieved to see my son alive, but I am very worried to hear what he is saying. I urge that every effort be made to secure his immediate release and that of all other hostages,” said his mother, Yelena Trupanov, quoted in the press release.
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97 hostages in Gaza
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.
Israeli retaliation has left at least 43,712 people dead in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas Health Ministry. They also caused a humanitarian and health disaster and displaced almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants. According to the UN, the majority of the dead are women and minors.
