Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was released on Monday from the hospital, where she had been undergoing treatment and evaluation following her release from captivity last week after over two years as a hostage in Iraq.
Tsurkov spent five days at the Sheba Medical Center, where she was kept in a separate ward from other patients, as is the procedure for released hostages.
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.
There was no update given on Tsurkov’s condition. A video from last Wednesday, the day she arrived at the hospital, showed her walking with difficulty while holding onto her brother and a medical staffer. She was said to be suffering from severe back pain that was exacerbated during her captivity. Tsurkov had undergone a spinal operation prior to being kidnapped in March 2023 by the pro-Iran Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah.
During her time at the hospital, she met with Israel’s point man on hostages, Gal Hirsch.
Last Thursday, Tsurkov spoke by phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said she was tortured while in captivity.
She made a point to highlight the plight of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip, who were abducted from southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of the area. Of the 251 hostages taken captive at the time, 48 remain in Gaza, of whom about 20 are believed still alive.
In footage of the call posted by Tsurkov’s sister Emma, Netanyahu could be heard beginning the conversation by asking her how she’s feeling.
“I went through some difficult things — torture in Iraq. It will take time to deal with it,” she said, thanking the Israeli medical teams and staff of the hostages directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office for their assistance.
She then quickly turned to the issue of hostages in Gaza.
“Yesterday, Gali and Ziv Berman had a birthday. And I tell you from personal experience that birthdays are the hardest days in captivity, and I wish for all the hostages in Gaza a speedy return to their families,” she said.
Netanyahu responded that he was working on that issue and hoped that all of the hostages would soon be returned.
Tsurkov then raised the importance of combating the presence of Iranian proxies in Iraq, noting that she was one of thousands to have been negatively impacted by groups like Kataeb Hezbollah.
The Times of Israel reported on Thursday that Israel had very little to do with freeing Tsurkov, with the US and Qatar playing much bigger roles in the efforts.
Tsurkov, a student at Princeton University in New Jersey, was kidnapped in March 2023 while conducting research in Iraq, after entering the country with her Russian passport.
She was held for 2.5 years by the Kataeb Hezbollah militia, which is supported and funded by Iran, and which claimed she was spying for Israel, a charge that Israel and her family denied.
Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday provided some details on Tsurkov’s release, citing multiple Iraqi officials and factions, as well as a US State Department official.
Sources said that her release apparently came after the Iraqi government began putting pressure on Kataib Hezbollah, along with US warnings of the consequences of keeping her hostage. Her captors received nothing in return for her release, sources told the newspaper.
The outlet had previously reported that Tsurkov was freed in exchange for the release of the son of a senior militia figure.
According to sources, Tsurkov was brought last Tuesday to a location in Baghdad and left alone there for some four hours until Iraqi officials, who were told where she was, came to collect her. She was then taken to the US embassy in Baghdad. From there, she was flown to Greece and then on to Israel.