Roni Krivoi, a 25-year-old Israeli with Russian citizenship, was released from Gaza on Sunday evening on the demand of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hamas issued a statement that it complied with Putin’s request due to his “support of Palestine.” Krivoi was released in addition to the 13 women and children and 3 foreign nationals released last night and is the first male captive to be released. Krivoi was born and grew up in Israel, with Hebrew as his mother tongue, but his parents obtained Russian citizenship for him when he was a child. On October 7th, he was working as a sound technician at the music festival near Re’im and was abducted by Hamas. On Monday morning, Krivoi’s aunt, Yelena Magid, recounted the amazing story her nephew told her to Kan News. “Roni said that he was caught by terrorists who held him in a building that collapsed due to IDF airstrikes,” she said. “He managed to escape and hide for four days alone. He tried to reach the [Israeli-Gazan] border. In the end, Gazans [those innocent civilians] caught him and returned him to Hamas.” Yelena also spoke about what happened to her nephew on October 7th. When the terrorists arrived, Roni and his friend tried to flee the area. “At a certain point, Roni decided to stop running,” his aunt said. “His friend was in contact with him until 10:30 a.m. when Roni told him that he could hear the terrorists getting closer to him. Ten minutes later, his friend called him again and someone answered in Arabic. His friend yelled: ‘Roni, Roni’ – they laughed and hung up. Regarding Roni’s condition, his aunt said: “I asked him if he has nightmares. He said yes, but that’s good because it means he’s dealing with it. He has a few head wounds because he was hit by a stone when the building collapsed but he fine, he’s being taken care of. ” “Roni is always happy and smiling. What gave us hope from the first day is that we know what he’s like, and someone who’s always smiling can always manage, no matter what the conditions.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)