Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli-Russian tutorial kidnapped in Iraq over two years in the past and launched Tuesday, landed in Israel on Wednesday evening, the Prime Minister’s Workplace and the Mossad mentioned.
Tsurkov, 38, was taken to Cyprus following her launch, and was flown from there to Israel, arriving at round 10 p.m.
In an announcement, Mossad chief David Barnea thanked his Cypriot counterpart for his assist.
“The cooperation between the 2 states proves itself as soon as once more,” the assertion mentioned.
Tsurkov was taken to Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan in a protocol much like the one for hostages coming back from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
These free of captivity in Gaza have been hospitalized in special wards the place they can reunite with household whereas step by step recuperating and present process varied medical and psychological well being checkups.
שבה הביתה: תמונות ראשונות של אליזבט צורקוב לאחר הנחיתה בישראל pic.twitter.com/7OSSNp2FXq
— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) September 10, 2025
In the meantime, the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Tsurkov, who had been held by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, was freed in alternate for the discharge of the son of a senior militia determine.
The paper cited sources as saying the son of a senior official in one of many militias had been concerned in an assault on Iraq’s Agriculture Ministry in June and was arrested by state authorities, and had now been launched in alternate for Tsurkov.
Based on the report, no ransom was paid for her launch, however there had been earlier American threats in opposition to the Kataib Hezbollah militia, the group that held Tsurkov.
Lebanese outlet al-Jadeed beforehand reported that in alternate for Tsurkov’s launch, a number of Iraqi prisoners can be freed and discussions can be held on the potential launch of Hezbollah operative Imad Amhaz, whom Israeli commandos captured in November 2024 in northern Lebanon, in addition to 5 different detainees, together with Iranians.
Tsurkov’s mom, Irina, after receiving the information of her daughter’s release from captivity in Iraq, advised Military Radio: “I’m going loopy. It’s loopy pleasure, happiness. I’ve waited for this second for nearly two and a half years.”
The freed captive’s mom added that she “hopes all of the households of our hostages get the identical information” that she acquired of her daughter’s launch, “and that each one the hostages are launched quickly.”
On this undated photograph, Elizabeth Tsurkov giving a speech on the Knesset concerning the humanitarian scenario in Gaza (Fb/utilized in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Regulation)
Tsurkov, a tutorial finding out at Princeton College who additionally holds Russian citizenship, was kidnapped by the Kataeb Hezbollah militia whereas doing analysis in Iraq on March 21, 2023. The group, which is supported and funded by Iran, claimed she was spying for Israel, a cost that Israel and her household denied.
The researcher’s mom mentioned that Kataeb Hezbollah’s four-minute video of Tsurkov in November 2023 was the one signal of life she had acquired from her daughter. “Since then, nothing. I haven’t acquired any replace. Till now.”
“I do know that [US President Donald] Trump himself, and the folks round him, actually labored very laborious and made a variety of efforts to free her, and now is a chance for me to say ‘thanks, thanks,’” she mentioned.
Requested what she wished to first inform her daughter — with whom she hadn’t but spoken, as of the interview — the elder Tsurkov mentioned, “That I’ve waited so, a lot for this second; that I like her so, a lot, and that I anxious about her a lot — everybody did, however me particularly, after all.”
Particulars of Tsurkov’s captivity have but to emerge, although Trump wrote on social media in his announcement of her launch that the tutorial was going free after “being tortured for a lot of months.”
Tsurkov was launched to the US embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday.
A Channel 12 report, citing a senior American official, mentioned that the embassy was stunned by her launch, and referred to as Washington to verify approval for taking her in, for the reason that researcher — in contrast to her sister, who lobbied for the US to demand her launch — is just not an American citizen.
“They acquired a cellphone name from the Iraqi safety companies, who requested, ‘Might we carry Elizabeth?’” the official mentioned. The embassy instantly acquired a inexperienced mild to take her in, based on the official, and he or she was there throughout the hour.
Based on the official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump after Tsurkov’s launch and thanked him for his involvement in securing her freedom.
