At the start he was held above ground, for more than six weeks locked in a cage and given barely enough food to survive. Here, he says he experienced sexual harassment where one guard repeatedly tried to encourage him to do a sexual act on himself. He also says a hidden camera filmed him when he was allowed a shower once a week.
“I noticed it and I took the shower trying to avoid my private parts towards this angle, but I had to do it because I needed to shower.”
Taken underground to the tunnels, Troufanov says he was left for months alone, his captors only bringing food then leaving him in a silent, cramped, humid space so dark he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.
“I remember feeling that I am buried underneath the ground while I am still alive. I was losing it. I was having a hard time to find hope in this place. Many times I lost hope completely. I said to myself: ‘This is the last place you will see alive.'”
It is the first time since 2014 that there are no Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Two hundred and fifty-one people were taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 other people were killed.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,660 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Since the ceasefire began on 10 October 2025, at least 492 Palestinians have been killed, the health ministry says, as well as four Israeli soldiers.
Now all the hostages, those alive and those who were killed, have returned to Israel the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza can commence. The key Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is set to open on an ongoing basis for the first time since May 2024, as required under the plan.
It also envisages the full demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups; a technocratic Palestinian government; and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Sasha Troufanov believes that these measures aren’t enough to ensure an attack like the one on 7 October won’t happen again.
“Rebuilding Gaza, after what happened in the war, is understandable. But first of all we need to make sure that the people of Gaza will stop trying to hurt Israel. The terrorists were telling me: ‘We will do this again and again.’
“Rebuilding Gaza and opening the Rafah crossing is in vain as it will never solve the real problem. We need to find a way to make this hatred and encouragement of terrorist activity stop.”
The former hostage now has to rehabilitate mentally and physically. He is currently on crutches after surgery on his leg but hopes to dance at his wedding to Sapir Cohen in a few weeks. “It’s a victory: overcoming hate and fear and saying to ourselves: ‘We will build life together and we will continue.'”