Released hostage provides first public sign of life from captive Rom Braslavski
Sasha Troufanov says he met ‘friend’ Braslavski in captivity, hopes his voice gives him ‘light and hope in the dark place’; Braslavski was taken from the Nova festival on Oct. 7
A recently released hostage provided the first public sign of life from captive Rom Braslavski in a video posted to social media on Thursday.
In the video, Sasha Troufanov, who was freed last month as part of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire agreement, said that while he is relieved and happy to be home, he “can’t disconnect from the captives still held in Gaza, those left behind.”
“I think a lot about my friends, especially one person who I briefly met in captivity, named Rom Braslavski,” he said.
Troufanov was held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group and was alone for most of the time in captivity.
News that he had met Braslavski amounts to the first evidence made public that Braslavski was alive after being captured by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.
“Rom, I hope my voice will give you light and hope in the dark place where you are. I want you to know that I, your friends and family, and all of Israel are praying for you and doing everything we can to secure your release,” Troufanov said.
Released hostage Sasha Troufanov sends a personal message to hostage Rom Braslavski, whom he met during captivity:
“Rom, I hope my voice will be a light and a source of hope for you in the dark and gloomy place where you are. I want you to know that I, your friends, your family,… pic.twitter.com/rewplkbTPv
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) March 6, 2025
Braslavski, now 21, was working as a security guard when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists from the Nova desert rave on October 7.
The Jerusalem resident was one of several security guards at the party who tried to save others as the wave of terrorists launched an assault on the event during the early morning.
He was in touch with his mother around 10:30 a.m., telling her that he was okay, located in a situation room, and would be home in a few hours.
Braslavski got two young women to safety that morning and was then wounded in both hands, according to other survivors who saw him.
He continued to try and save others. He was last seen at 1:30 p.m. while helping a young woman get out of a garbage container where she was hiding and head to a safer location.
Braslavski is among 59 hostages still being held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
The current ceasefire’s first phase — which lapsed Saturday — saw 33 Israeli hostages returned, eight of them dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including many convicted terrorists serving hefty jail sentences. Five Thai nationals held hostage in the Gaza Strip were freed separately during that period.
The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war.
Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.
The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas, and is counted among the 59 hostages.
