Irena is a Russian-Israeli citizen. Irena made Aliya 25 years ago from Russia with her daughter, Yelena ‘Lena’ Trupanob, her son-in-law Vitaly Trupanob and her only grandson Alexander ‘Sasha’. The family settled down in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Irena has worked all her life as a Pediatrician.
On Saturday October 7, Irena, Yelena (50), Sasha (28), and his partner Sapir Cohen (29), were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Trupanob home on Kibbutz Nir Oz. At the same time, Vitaly, Yelena's husband and Sasha’s father, was tragically murdered.
On 29.11 Yelena and Irena were released from Hamas captivity, 54 days following their abduction into Gaza. The Hamas organization announced their release as a tribute to President Putin. The next day, Sapir was released as well, as part of a temporary cease-fire agreement.
Sasha is still there, and he is being terribly missed back home.
Every day, precisely at 3:00 PM, Sasha, a promising young engineer at Amazon, maintained a steadfast ritual – a coffee break with his friends, a tradition that lasted a decade. Now, a social media campaign invites everyone to keep Sasha's tradition alive and document the moment with a cup of coffee, just as he dearly loved. "Every day, at 15:00, we call on everyone to pause their day – no matter where they are, and to drink a cup of coffee, for Sasha," urges Gal Perkotnik, Sasha's close friend.