Islamic Jihad shows video with Russian national kidnapped in Israel

The Saraya al-Quds* group, a military wing of the radical Islamic Jihad* movement (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), released a new video of Alexander Trukhanov, a Russian citizen, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

Photo: Israel Defense Forces is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

The video of the hostage posted on the Telegram channel of the terrorist group shows the man speaking Hebrew. The man complains about the difficult situation the hostages found themselves in. They do not have enough water and have run out of hygiene products, the man said.

Fearing Israeli bombings and missile attacks, Trukhanov called on the Israelis not to forget about the hostages. He also urged the people of Israel to go to rallies and advocate for a ceasefire so that hostages could return home.

Alexander Trufanov was kidnapped on October 7, 2023 with his family during the Hamas attack on southern Israel. The Israeli Embassy in Russia confirmed Trufanov's identity. The man has dual Russian and Israeli citizenship.

The man's grandmother and mother were released from captivity as part of the first deal with Hamas in November 2023. Trufanov's fiancée was exchanged in December. The hostage's father did not survive the militant attack.

*terrorist groups, banned in Russia

Details

On 7 October 2023 Hamas and several other Palestinian nationalist militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza Envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The attack coincided with the Jewish religious holiday Simchat Torah. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups named the attacks Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, while in Israel they are referred to as Black Sabbath or the Simchat Torah Massacre, and internationally as the 7 October attacks. The attacks initiated the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. The attacks began early on 7 October with a barrage of at least 4,300 rockets launched into Israel and vehicle-transported and powered paraglider incursions into Israel. Hamas fighters breached the Gaza–Israel barrier, attacking military bases and massacring civilians in 21 communities