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 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group in Israel.
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In this video, a young bearded man identifies himself as Sacha Trupanov, an Israeli-Russian kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Speaking in Hebrew, Sacha Trupanov talks about his year of detention marked by deprivation. Lack of food and water. No electricity and I no longer have access to basic hygiene products, says the hostage. My biggest danger, he says again, is the Israeli army. He calls on Israelis to intensify protests to put pressure on the Israeli government. Don’t believe what Netanyahu tells you, he still assures.
Sasha Trupanov is detained by Islamic Jihad. His partner Sapir Cohen, his mother and his grandmother, were released in November 2023 during the only truce in Gaza, indicates our correspondent in Jerusalem, Michael Paul.
Willingness to negotiate a prisoner exchange
His father Vitali was killed during the Palestinian attack on October 7. “ I’m relieved to see my son alive, but I’m very worried to hear what he saysunderlines his mother Yelena who asked the media to broadcast the video. Sasha Trupanov also has Russian nationality and it was recently indicated that the Kremlin was trying to obtain his release as well as that of other dual nationals. In Israel, it is believed in any case that Islamic Jihad is clearly signaling its desire to negotiate an exchange of prisoners.
This is the third video released by Islamic Jihad of Sasha Trupanov kidnapped with his partner Sapir Cohen, at 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.
This ” horrible 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 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.
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“ I am relieved to see my son alive, but I am very worried to hear what he says. I urge that all efforts be made to secure his immediate release and that of all other hostages “, declared his mother, Yelena Trupanov, quoted in the press release.
During the unprecedented attack by Hamas members 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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