Freed hostage learned fate of family day before release, survived on love, wife says
Avital Dekel-Chen says Sagui didn’t know the entire time he was held captive that she and their daughters were alive; Sasha Troufanov’s mother: He was shot in both legs, ‘miracle’ he can walk
The families of two hostages released from captivity in Gaza over the weekend gave updates Sunday on their freed loved ones in a press conference at Sheba Medical Center, where they are being cared for following their return to Israel.
Released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen was able to survive nearly 500 days in captivity without knowing the fate of his family, with only love keeping him going, his wife said, while the mother of former hostage Sasha Troufanov called it a “miracle” that her son could walk, despite having been shot in both legs.
Dekel-Chen and Troufanov were abducted from their homes on Kibbutz Nir Oz, during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massive assault on southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 seized as hostages, triggering the war. They were set free on Saturday, along with Iair Horn, who was also abducted from Nir Oz.
Sagui’s wife, Avital Dekel-Chen, said in a tremulous statement that the love of her life, the father of her children, had come home to them.
She shared that her husband had not known what had happened to his family on October 7 until the day before he was released.
“That’s when he found out that we were alive,” she said. “How did he manage to survive? Love.”
On the day of the Hamas attack, Avital was heavily pregnant. Along with her two young daughters, she survived the massacre in Nir Oz. The couple’s third daughter, Shachar Mazal, was born two months later and celebrated her first birthday in December without having met her father.
(Sagui’s mother, Neomit, was taken captive along with her neighbors in an electric cart that was headed toward Gaza when an IDF helicopter shot at the terrorists and driver. Neomit, injured, made her way back toward the kibbutz and was eventually rescued and evacuated.)
During the long months that Dekel-Chen, 36, was held prisoner, Avital recalled on Sunday, “I said that if there’s anything that can overcome this, it is the love and connection that Sagui and I have.”
But alongside the joy she felt at his release, she also “couldn’t help but think of all of the other children who are still waiting for their fathers to come home.”
“The children asking, ‘When is Abba [Dad] coming home?'” Avital said.
Avital also shared Sagui’s thoughts on how the number of days the captives have been held is often cited as a measure of their prolonged suffering.
She said her husband, a dual Israeli-US citizen, pointed out to her that 498 days is over 43 million seconds. The hostages, he told her, “don’t count days or hours or minutes, they count seconds in hell.”
In her own remarks, Yelena Troufanov, who was also abducted by Hamas and then released in a previous truce in November 2023, thanked those who “prayed for her son.”
“I got my heart back,” she said.
‘A miracle’ that Sasha is standing
Russian-Israeli citizen Troufanov, 29, was taken hostage along with three members of his family — grandmother Irena Tati, mother Yelena (Lena), and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen — from their home in the Gaza border community. His father, Vitaly Troufanov, was killed during the onslaught.
Hamas released the three women in November 2023, as part of a week-long truce.
Troufanov on Sunday called for an end to the cruel “Russian roulette” game being played with the lives of the hostages and bring them all home.
Troufanov met with Mor Korgold, the brother of hostage Tal Shoham, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 and is slated to be freed in the first stage of the ceasefire deal. Tal was kidnapped along with his wife, two children, mother-in-law, and a number of other relatives who were freed in November 2023.
Korngold posted a photo of himself with Troufanov on Instagram, writing that the pair “sat and talked and ate.” He said when Troufanov heard he was active on social media, “he asked me to send a message in his name.”
“The time has come to end the game of Russian roulette and save everyone,” the freed hostage said, according to the message. “I thank all of my friends and those who fought for my return and I ask you to keep up the struggle to bring everyone back.”
In Sunday’s press conference, Yelena Troufanov revealed that Sasha was shot in both legs during the Hamas-led attack and “it is a miracle he is standing up on his legs.”
Yelena thanked the public for its support, and also Russia, as well as Moscow’s ambassador in Israel, for their assistance and efforts towards her son’s release.
Torture and starvation
The three hostages released over the weekend have reported to Israeli officials the difficult conditions of their captivity.
They said there was a constant shortage of food and water, that at times they ate food that was not fit for human consumption, and sometimes drank seawater, the Kan broadcaster reported.
None of them was given any information about what was going on in the outside world, the report said.
Troufanov, who was alone in his captivity, was sometimes left chained by himself in a dark tunnel, and believed he would not survive, Kan reported, without citing sources.
Horn said he was kept in a narrow, low tunnel and that at one point he met his brother, Eitan, who is also a hostage, but was forbidden to speak more than a few words with him by their guards, according to Channel 12.
Signs of life
Freed hostage Dekel-Chen reportedly brought with him signs of life from three other hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.
The relevant families have received the information and will decide whether to make it public, Channel 12 news and the Ynet news site reported, the latter citing Dekel-Chen’s aunt, Galit Fisch.
In a pattern that has repeated itself since hostages started being released from Gaza last month under the first stage of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, those set free have been able to provide details on other abductees that they encountered during their captivity. Whereas some of the information has been months old, Dekel-Chen’s details were reportedly from just before his release.
Dekel-Chen was held for a prolonged period with four others, including Horn, Channel 12 reported, without citing sources. The five were all still together at least a few days before Dekel-Chen and Horn were released, according to the report.
Troufanov had been held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group at a different location.
Dekel-Chen brought information about the three others they were held with. It is not known if the remaining three are to be released in the ongoing first stage of the three-phase ceasefire, or if they are to be included in a later stage, the television report noted.
It is also not known if he was able to provide any fresh information about the captives.
The families of three hostages have chosen not to publicize any of the information they were given, the network said, and wish to keep the matter private for the time being.
Kan reported that Horn and Dekel-Chen said the other three hostages had been physically and mentally abused. Their Hamas and Islamic Jihad guards considered them to be IDF soldiers and interrogated them about their past in the military while administering serious physical abuse.
Channel 12 specified that a freed hostage, apparently from an earlier release, has provided grim details regarding hostage Elkana Bohbot. He is reportedly injured and is being held in a mold-filled tunnel some 30 meters (98 feet) underground where it is hard to breathe, a situation made worse because the hostage has asthma.
Bohbot, through a released hostage, has passed on a message to his wife and son that they listen to the song “Lo’Chemet” [Fighter] every day to maintain strength, the network reported. Also, he was said to be striving to maintain an Orthodox lifestyle in captivity, saying Kiddush on Friday nights and fasting on Yom Kippur.
Terrorists also reportedly threatened to kill him and others held with him if the IDF came to try to rescue them. The captives were permitted to watch the Al-Jazeera network once a week and during a news report, Bohbot saw his own picture on display in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, a focal point for the hostage support movement. Seeing the photo at the square reportedly gave him strength.
Kan reported that with the release of the hostages over the weekend came new, recent, information about hostage Nimrod Cohen who was abducted from Nahal Oz, but did not give further details.
Last week, 12 families of hostages said that they were provided with signs of life about their loved ones following the release of three more hostages who were returned the previous weekend.
Channel 12 also reported that Dekel-Chen deliberately did not try to find out any information about the outside world while in captivity, fearing that what he would learn might be too upsetting.
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.
Eight hostages were rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages were also 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.
