Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli-Russian academic kidnapped in Iraq over two years ago and released Tuesday, landed in Israel on Wednesday night, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Mossad said.
Tsurkov, 38, was taken to Cyprus following her release, and was flown from there to Israel, arriving at around 10 p.m.
In a statement, Mossad chief David Barnea thanked his Cypriot counterpart for his help.
“The cooperation between the two states proves itself once again,” the statement said.
Tsurkov was taken to Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan in a protocol similar to the one for hostages returning from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
Those freed from captivity in Gaza have been hospitalized in special wards where they are able to reunite with family while gradually recuperating and undergoing various medical and mental health checkups.
Meanwhile, the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Tsurkov, who had been held by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, was freed in exchange for the release of the son of a senior militia figure.
The paper cited sources as saying the son of a senior official in one of the militias had been involved in an attack on Iraq’s Agriculture Ministry in June and was arrested by state authorities, and had now been released in exchange for Tsurkov.
According to the report, no ransom was paid for her release, but there had been previous American threats against the Kataib Hezbollah militia, the group that held Tsurkov.
Lebanese outlet al-Jadeed previously reported that in exchange for Tsurkov’s release, several Iraqi prisoners would be freed and discussions would be held on the potential release of Hezbollah operative Imad Amhaz, whom Israeli commandos captured in November 2024 in northern Lebanon, as well as five other detainees, including Iranians.
Tsurkov’s mother, Irina, after receiving the news of her daughter’s release from captivity in Iraq, told Army Radio: “I’m going crazy. It’s crazy joy, happiness. I’ve waited for this moment for almost two and a half years.”
The freed captive’s mother added that she “hopes all the families of our hostages get the same news” that she received of her daughter’s release, “and that all the hostages are released soon.”
Tsurkov, an academic studying at Princeton University who also holds Russian citizenship, was kidnapped by the Kataeb Hezbollah militia while doing research in Iraq on March 21, 2023. The group, which is supported and funded by Iran, claimed she was spying for Israel, a charge that Israel and her family denied.
The researcher’s mother said that Kataeb Hezbollah’s four-minute video of Tsurkov in November 2023 was the only sign of life she had received from her daughter. “Since then, nothing. I haven’t received any update. Until now.”
“I know that [US President Donald] Trump himself, and the people around him, really worked very hard and made a lot of efforts to free her, and now is an opportunity for me to say ‘thank you, thank you,'” she said.
Asked what she wanted to first tell her daughter — with whom she hadn’t yet spoken, as of the interview — the elder Tsurkov said, “That I’ve waited so, so much for this moment; that I love her so, so much, and that I worried about her so much — everyone did, but me especially, of course.”
Details of Tsurkov’s captivity have yet to emerge, though Trump wrote on social media in his announcement of her release that the academic was going free after “being tortured for many months.”
Tsurkov was released to the US embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday.
A Channel 12 report, citing a senior American official, said that the embassy was surprised by her release, and called Washington to confirm approval for taking her in, since the researcher — unlike her sister, who lobbied for the US to demand her release — is not an American citizen.
“They got a phone call from the Iraqi security services, who asked, ‘Could we bring Elizabeth?’” the official said. The embassy immediately received a green light to take her in, according to the official, and she was there within the hour.
According to the official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump after Tsurkov’s release and thanked him for his involvement in securing her freedom.