Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a proof-of-life video on Wednesday of Russian-Israeli hostage Alexander (“Sasha”) Troufanov, who was abducted from his family home during the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for 404 days.
In the undated video, the third of Troufanov that the terrorist organization has published, he says his age is 28, although he turned 29 on Monday.
In the video, Troufanov says that he and the other remaining captives (there are 101, 97 of whom were kidnapped on Oct. 7 and many of whom are believed to have died) are running out of food and basic hygiene products.
He pleads for the Israeli public to continue to push for a hostage deal and expresses fear of being accidentally killed by the Israel Defense Forces.
The two previous PIJ videos of Troufanov were released in May.
Trufanov is an engineer employed at Annapurna Labs, an Israeli company that was acquired by Amazon in 2015. His friends have tried to get the tech giant to issue a statement about his plight.
During the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, Trufanov was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his mother, Yelena Trufanov; his grandmother Irena Tati; and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen. His mother and grandmother were freed by Hamas on Nov. 29, 2023, at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Cohen was released as part of a ceasefire deal that same month.
He also appeared in a propaganda video released by Hamas on Oct. 30, 2023, alongside two other women who were released during the November ceasefire. Alexander’s father, Vitaly Trufanov, was murdered in the Hamas terror onslaught on Nir Oz, along with some 40 other residents of the kibbutz.
His family authorized the publication of the most recent video, with his mother expressing concern at his words.
“I am relieved to see my son alive, but I am very worried to hear what he is saying,” Yelena Trufanov said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that the video demonstrates the urgency of a deal to free the hostages.
It “highlights the urgency of returning the 101 hostages—and now, with winter approaching, these hostages, who have been subjected to horrific conditions of abuse, starvation and darkness for over a year, face an increasing risk of losing their lives,” the forum said.
