A former Israeli hostage who was held for nearly 500 days in Gaza says the return of the body of the final hostage this week means all the released captives can "now breathe and start our lives again".
Thirty-year-old Sasha Troufanov, an Amazon electronics engineer, was taken hostage on 7 October 2023 by Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen. His fiancée Sapir Cohen, mother and grandmother were also kidnapped and taken to Gaza. The women were released after more than 50 days as hostages. He was freed a year ago, after 498 days in captivity.
In his first international interview, Troufanov, on a visit to London, told BBC News that with the return on Monday of Ran Gvili's body meaning all the hostages were back "it felt wonderful. We waited so long for this to happen.
"I was carrying this burden ever since I came back. It was like a weight on my shoulders that kept me from coming back to my life. Although we were released, we didn't really come out of Gaza because our friends and brothers were still there."
But the moment was bittersweet for him as Monday was also the birthday of his father Vitaly. Troufanov only discovered his father had been murdered on 7 October on the day he was released in February 2025 and realised his dad wasn't there to meet him.
