October 7 · Personal story
Yelena Trufanov
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Current outcome
Released alive · November 29, 2023
Released alive from Gaza and returned to Israel on November 29, 2023.
01
A home and community in Nir Oz
Yelena and Vitaly Trufanov immigrated from Russia in August 1999 and made their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz with their only son, Sasha. Yelena led a quality-control team at Nirlat, while Vitaly worked at the regional agricultural cooperative Yaham. Her mother Irena later moved to a home nearby. Animals were part of Yelena’s life in the kibbutz, including the cats she fed. In a 2024 interview she described herself as secular before October 7, while her mother had maintained Jewish traditions.
02
Taken from home
On October 7, 2023, Yelena was taken hostage from her home in Nir Oz. Her husband Vitaly was killed. Her mother was abducted from another home, and Sasha was taken separately while visiting with his partner Sapir. The attack left Yelena without news of the people closest to her. In her later account she recalled being taken alone and initially held apart from other captives. Her home in the kibbutz burned, and she would learn only after her release that Vitaly had been murdered.
03
Isolation, then questions of faith
In an October 2024 interview, Yelena described isolation at the beginning of captivity and later encounters with other hostages. She recalled guards asking her and another captive to recite the Ten Commandments. They could remember only five; Sapir knew all ten. Questions about Torah followed day after day. Yelena said that, although she had been secular, these conversations made her reconsider faith and the traditions her mother had kept. She described that change through her own experience of captivity, including the uncertainty and separation from her family.
04
Returned on November 29
Yelena and her mother Irena were released on November 29, 2023, after 54 days in Gaza. Their return followed a Russian request and took place separately from that day’s regular hostage exchange. In Israel, Yelena learned that her husband had been murdered and her only son remained captive. Sapir returned the next day. Leaving hospital, Yelena could not go back to her burned home in Nir Oz. On December 1 she arrived at Kfar Maccabiah, where family and people around her helped her begin living outside captivity.
05
Making a home again
By September 2024, Yelena was travelling to Nir Oz twice a week with donated food and water for the cats. She continued calling for Sasha and the other hostages to return. At Kfar Maccabiah, walks in the park and support from her mother, Sapir and Sapir’s parents helped her through more than a year of waiting. Sasha returned on February 15, 2025. In an April interview, Yelena recalled the hotel staff welcoming him and described the place as home after losing hers in the kibbutz. Her family was together again, while Vitaly’s absence remained.