Palestinian Jihad releases video of Israeli hostage Sasha Trupanov

Sasha Trupanov, 28, who was captured on October 7, is seen speaking in Hebrew in the 30-second clip but it is unclear when the video was filmed.

An image grab from a video released by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad of 28-year-old Russian-Israeli hostage Sasha Trupanov, speaking to the camera. Trupanov was captured on October 7 from kibbutz Nir Oz along with his mother. Picture: AFP.

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has released a video showing an Israeli hostage alive and held in the Gaza Strip.

The captive, identified by Israeli media as Sasha Trupanov, 28, is seen speaking in Hebrew in the 30-second clip.

Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified him as Alexsander (Sasha) Trupanov, and called on the Israeli authorities to secure the release of all captives held in Gaza.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terror group in Gaza that was involved in October 7, published a propaganda video of Alexander Sasha Trupanov, an Amazon employee, showing him alive. No date is identifiable in the video. He has been held for 235 days.pic.twitter.com/4Wg48z5aKs

— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) May 28, 2024

It was unclear when the footage, in which he is seen wearing a T-shirt, was taken.

Trupanov, a Russian-Israeli dual national, was captured on October 7 from kibbutz Nir Oz along with his mother Yelena, grandmother Irena and girlfriend Sapir Cohen.

The three women were freed during a truce between Hamas and Israel at the end of November, which led to the release of 105 hostages.

Trupanov’s father Vitaly was killed in the October 7 attack.

After the video was released, Sasha’s family and girlfriend said they were desperate for him to return home.

“To see him today on television is very happy, but also heartbreaking because he is still in captivity,” said his mother, Yelena. “I call on all decision makers, please do everything to bring him and all the hostages home now.”

Sasha’s girlfriend, Sapir, said: “We are waiting for you to come home already, and we’re doing everything we can for it to happen soon.”

A families’ forum statement declared: “The Israeli government must give a significant mandate to the negotiating team, which will be able to lead to a deal for the return of all the hostages – the living to rehabilitation and the murdered to burial.”

Sasha Trupanov was captured on October 7. Picture: Twitter.

It came as a civil defence official in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a displacement camp west of Rafah on Tuesday killed at least 21 people, after a similar strike that sparked global outrage.

Israel denied carrying out the latest reported strike, which occurred hours ahead of a UN Security Council meeting to discuss a Sunday strike which Palestinian officials said killed 45 people.

Despite mounting concerns over the civilian toll of its war on Hamas, Israel has shown no signs of changing course and international efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire remain stalled.

In the latest bloodshed, Gaza’s civil defence agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said 21 people were killed in an “occupation strike targeting the tents of displaced people” in west Rafah.

Israel’s army rejected the allegations, saying it “did not strike” the designated humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.

In Rafah, residents and a Palestinian security source said Israeli tanks had now penetrated the heart of the southern city.

“People are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by Israeli drones,” one resident, Abdel Khatib, said.

An emergency United Nations Security Council meeting is due to discuss Sunday’s deadly strike at 1915 GMT (8.15am AEST).

Ahead of the meeting, Israel’s military said the weapons used in that strike “could not” have caused the deadly blaze in the camp.

“Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” said military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

Sunday evening’s strike, which medics said also wounded hundreds of civilians, drew worldwide condemnation.

The sight of the charred carnage, blackened corpses and children being rushed to hospitals led UN chief Antonio Guterres to declare that “there is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the strike as a “tragic accident” but affirmed the continuation of the campaign to destroy Hamas over the October 7 attack and to bring home all the hostages.

AFP