Hamas has launched two Russian-Israeli twin nationals and handed them over to the Red Cross below a separate settlement negotiated between Hamas and the Kremlin.
Elena Trufanova, 50, and her mom Irina Tatti, 73, had been launched on Wednesday afternoon “in response to the efforts of the Russian President”, in response to an announcement by Hamas.
That brings to a few the variety of hostages with Russian citizenship who’ve been launched since Sunday.
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Ms Trufanova’s sister, Maria Leizerovich, advised Sky News from Moscow that she was “overwhelmed” by the information, however that her combat was not over till Ms Trufanova’s son Alexander (Sasha) and his Israeli fiance Sapir Cohen had been additionally launched.
The household had been kidnapped from Ms Trufanova’s dwelling in Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October. Her husband Vitaly was killed within the assault.
The first signal Ms Leizerovich had that her sister was alive got here nearly three weeks later, when Ms Trufanova appeared in a hostage video launched by Hamas.
“It was a great joy for us when we saw her there, no matter how crazy that sounds”, Ms Leizerovich advised Sky News.
“It gave us hope that all our remaining relatives were also alive”.
Eight of the roughly 240 hostages initially taken by Hamas had been Russian-Israeli twin nationals.
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On Sunday, 25-year-old Roni Krivoi was the primary to be launched and was reunited together with his mother and father on the Sheba Medical Center close to Tel Aviv.
In video of that reunion launched by the Israeli authorities, he gave the impression to be bodily in good well being.
Mr Krivoi’s aunt advised Israeli radio that he had managed to flee his captors for 4 days when the constructing he was in was bombed, however that he was recaptured by Gazans and returned to Hamas.
Mr Krivoi had been working on the Nova music pageant when he was taken hostage, and is the primary grownup male with Israeli citizenship to have been launched to date by Hamas.
At a press convention in Moscow, family of the Russian-Israeli hostages mentioned that they had written a letter to Vladimir Putin asking for his assist.
“Of course we wrote to Putin”, mentioned Oxana Lobanova, whose son Alexander was kidnapped. “And of course we hope that Vladimir Vladimirovich will influence the situation. He stands strong for his citizens”.
Evgenia Kozlova’s son Andrei was working as a safety guard on the Nova pageant.
“No one knows if he is alive now,” she mentioned. “We don’t know where is he, in what conditions he’s being kept. We don’t know what he eats or if he sees the sun.
“We can solely guess, primarily based on the hostages who’ve already been realised, what is going on to him and it doesn’t reassure us.”
In late October, a senior Hamas delegation travelled to Moscow for talks with Russian officers.
According to the international ministry, the talks centered on the rapid launch of international hostages and the evacuation of Russian and different international residents from the Gaza Strip.
One month later it could seem that deputy international minister Mikhail Bogdanov’s dealings with Hamas are starting to bear fruit.
Source: information.sky.com”