Woodland Hills residents Anat Braslavski and Eyal Benmenahem met privately with freed Hamas captive Sasha Alexander Troufanov to learn information about their nephew Rom Braslavski, who is still being held in Gaza.
Braslavski, an Israeli with close family in California, is an extremely ill hostage who has been held in Gaza now for over 593 tortured days. He was kidnapped on October 7, 2023 from the Nova Music Festival, where he was working security and was able to save many people before being taken hostage.
There were no signs of life from him until Sasha Alexander was released in February 2025 and sent words of encouragement to Braslavski and his family.
A few weeks after that, Rom’s captors, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, put out a disturbing video of Rom begging for dire medical help.
Troufanov shared with Braslavski’s relatives new testimony about his time spent in captivity with their nephew.
This meeting of Troufanov and the family sends a unified message of strength and hope that they hope reaches Braslavski soon. Troufanov sat down with the couple before The Israel Unity Night in Beverly Hills, produced by Young Israel of North Beverly Hills. They gifted Troufanov with “Rom Yellow Ribbon” shirts made for him and girlfriend Sapir Cohen. Cohen survived Hamas captivity after being kidnapped from Israel to Gaza with Troufanov on October 7, 2023.
At this time reports suggest there are 58 hostages still being held in Gaza. Of those, at least 35 are confirmed dead, with their bodies held by Hamas.
Twenty hostages are believed to be alive.
