After his release from Gaza, Amazon finally says hostage Troufanov was an employee

Global retail giant Amazon on Saturday finally broke its silence about a Russian-Israeli employee who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

In a message to Amazon employees upon the release of Sasha Troufanov on Saturday morning, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy for the first time acknowledged Troufanov’s role in the company.

Troufanov, 29, was released from Hamas captivity along with Sagui Dekel-Chen and Iair Horn as part of phase one of a mediated ceasefire-hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. He was informed upon his release that his father was murdered during the Palestinian terror group’s brutal October 7 attack, and burst into tears at the news.

Troufanov had been working at Amazon Web Services as an electrical engineer at the time of his capture. The company has faced criticism for declining to acknowledge that an employee was taken hostage by Hamas.

In a letter published after Troufanov returned to Israel, Jassy told employees that he was “incredibly relieved” that Troufanov had been released from captivity, and that Amazon had been silently acting on his behalf.

“Since we learned of Sasha and his family’s abduction, we’ve had a dedicated team working behind the scenes with experts to support efforts to secure their release and to ensure that we did the right thing for them and their safety,” Jassy wrote. This included “painfully not commenting publicly for fear that we would negatively impact their ability to be released or how they were treated in captivity,” he added.

Troufanov, now 29, was visiting his family at Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel when he, his mother, his grandmother, and his girlfriend were taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023. His father was killed by terrorists in the attack.

Sasha Troufanov, then 27, was taken hostage along with his family and girlfriend Sapir Cohen on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

Troufanov’s mother, grandmother, and girlfriend were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Troufanov was released on Saturday after 498 days.

“It’s been an extremely trying time for everybody who knows and cares for Sasha — a lot of angst and feelings of helplessness,” wrote Amazon’s 57-year-old Jewish CEO. “But, it can’t approach what Sasha and his family have been through, and we will continue to support them and do everything we can to help them heal.”

Some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 taken captive, mostly civilians, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea on October 7, 2023.

Seventy of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas has so far released 24 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.

Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov seen flanked by gunmen on a Hamas stage at their release from captivity, February 15, 2025. (Screenshot)

Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.