Amazon employee Sasha Troufanov released from Gaza captivity after 498 days
Troufanov’s family was murdered or abducted by Palestinian Islamic Jihad at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023; mother, grandmother and girlfriend released in Nov. 2023
On February 15, 2025, Sasha Troufanov, 29, was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza as part of phase one of a mediated ceasefire-hostage release deal. He was handed over to the Red Cross, who delivered him to IDF soldiers who escorted him into Israel. Below is what we initially knew of his capture:
Sasha Troufanov, 27 (now 29) was taken hostage along with three members of his family — grandmother Irena Tati, mother Yelena (Lena) and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen — from Kibbutz Nir Oz after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacres at the Gaza border town.
Since the Russian-Israeli family has no other relatives in Israel, Sasha’s friends became their voices, gathering a war room of 30 people who reviewed dozens of Hamas videos, were able to identify girlfriend Sapir in one, being brought to Gaza on a moped, between two terrorists, her hands held behind her head.
They also eventually learned that Sasha’s father Vitaly Troufanov was killed on October 7.
Mother Yelena Trufanova, 50, and her mother Irena Tati, 73, were released by Hamas on November 29 at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sapir Cohen, Troufanov’s girlfriend, was released on November 30 as part of the week-long truce.
Sasha’s parents and grandmother had been in their home, with a safe room, while Sasha and Sapir were in another house without a safe room. It was later learned that Vitaly Troufanov had been taken from the house before the rest of the family.
Sasha and his girlfriend, Sapir, had recently moved in together in a Ramat Gan apartment, so when the Gaza border communities were attacked by Hamas terrorists in what became a massacre of hundreds, their friends didn’t know at first that they were there.
“When we called him, he didn’t answer,” said one friend in a video created by Bring Them Home, the ad-hoc organization documenting the stories of more than 200 Israelis missing and taken to Gaza. “We realized he and Sapir must have been with his family in Nir Oz.”
Troufanov is an engineer employed at Annapurna Labs, an Israeli microelectronics company purchased by Amazon. His friends have tried to get Amazon to issue a statement about Sasha, but to no avail.
To raise awareness about Sasha and provoke a response from Amazon, his friends attended a recent Amazon conference in Las Vegas. They hired trucks on which they placed pictures of Sasha and handed out t-shirts with his picture and the slogan “I wish I were here.”
Sasha was part of the team that developed one of the new products launched at the conference.
According to The Marker, Amazon has decided to remain silent because the company believes publicizing Troufanov’s connection could hurt him.
