Israel at War | Statement on the release of Sagui Dekel-Chen, Iair Horn, and ‎‏Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov

❱❱ Download the statement: English | French | Portuguese | Spanish

ויֵשׁ תִּקְוָה לְאַחֲרִיתֵךְ נְאֻם יְהוָה וְשָׁבוּ בָנִים לִגְבוּלָם" — יִרְמְיָהוּ ל"א:ט"ז"

“And there is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children shall come back again to their own border” — Jeremiah 31:17

Our hearts are filled and relief with gratitude as we welcome home Sagui Dekel-Chen, Iair Horn, and ‎‏Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov who were released after being held hostage in Gaza for 498 days. May their return bring hope and reaffirm our unwavering commitment never to abandon those still left behind.

Sagui (36), Iair (46), and Sasha (29) were all abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Sagui returns home to meet his new baby girl, Shachar Mazal, for the first time. Iair was abducted together with his brother Eitan, who is still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza - we pray for Eitan to be reunited with his brother and family soon. Sasha was abducted together with his mother Yelena, grandmother Irena and partner Sapir, who were all released in the first agreement more than a year ago. On October 7, his father, Vitaly was murdered by Hamas terrorists. May his memory be for a blessing.

We hold both a sacred duty and a moral right to bring all of our sisters and brothers home. We continue to pray and advocate for the immediate release and safe return of the remaining hostages still in captivity.

❱❱ We share a prayer composed with gratitude by Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger on the redemption of captives, in different languages:

English | French | Hebrew | Portuguese | Spanish