From the Liveblog of
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Girlfriend of freed hostage Sasha Troufanov: He prayed I would find someone else to love
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Sapir Cohen, the girlfriend of Sasha Troufanov, one of the three hostages freed from Gaza yesterday, says Sasha told her he prayed for her to find another man that she could love, as he did not want her to wait for him, since he believed he would never come home.
“Thank God I have the privilege to stand here today,” says Cohen in comments to the media at the Sheba Medical Center. “Last night, Sasha told me that during all this time [since he was taken hostage and held in Gaza], he prayed for me to find a man I love, prayed that I wouldn’t wait for him. He didn’t want me waiting for a man he thought would never return home. He didn’t believe he would survive.”
Cohen was also taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, along with Sasha’s mother and grandmother, and freed with them in November 2023. She says she has now realized the dreams she’d had since October 7, “dreams I never thought in my life I would have: coming home alive from captivity in Gaza and getting to hug Sasha again. God protect us.”
She thanks all those who were part of the effort to bring them all home, as well as soldiers and the families of the bereaved.
“To call them soldiers is to minimize what you did,” she says. “You are a model that shows what unity is, for showing that it is possible.”
Sasha’s mother, former hostage Yelena Troufanov, whose husband Vitaly was killed on October 7 at their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, says she received her heart and soul back with Sasha’s release home.
“He came home in one piece,” says Troufanov. “He was shot in both legs and for us, it is a miracle that he is standing and walking.”
Troufanov thanks all those who supported and helped her throughout the last months, including the Russian government, the Hostages Forum and her son’s friends.
“I didn’t know them before and today they are my friends,” she says.
