Hamas says 2 hostages with Russian citizenship will be among first released in hostage deal

The Hamas terror group says two Israeli hostages who are dual Russian citizens will be among the first to be released during an eventual hostage deal.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas politburo member, tells the RIA state news agency after talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow that the release of Alexander (Sasha) Trufanov and Maxim Herkin would be a “priority,” but only as part of a ceasefire deal and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Abu Marzouk notes that Trufanov is being held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has released two propaganda videos of him.

Abu Marzouk calls Trufanov an Israeli officer and Herkin a former soldier.

Trufanov, 30, is an engineer employed at Annapurna Labs, an Israeli microelectronics company purchased by Amazon.

He was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his mother, Yelena, grandmother, Irena Tati, and girlfriend, Sapir Cohen — all of whom were released in a hostage deal in late November. His father, Vitaly Trufanov, was murdered on October 7 in the Hamas onslaught.

Herkin, 35, was kidnapped from the Supernova desert rave on October 7.

Abu Marzouk claims that Herkin’s family secured him a Russian passport after he was captured in a bid to push for his release.

Source » timesofisrael.com