Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang welcomed Avinatan Or from "two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity" in Gaza, saying a number of the chip giant's families had suffered losses during the war.
An electrical engineer at Nvidia in Israel, 32-year-old Or was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, along with 250 others, including his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, whose desperate cries on the back of a motorcycle became one of the most haunting images of the Hamas attack.
"Avinatan — welcome home. Your safe return brings profound relief and joy to the entire Nvidia. We are here for you and for your family as you begin this next chapter of healing," Huang wrote in a letter sent to Nvidia employees and seen by Reuters.
Or was released on Monday after 738 days in captivity by Hamas, in a US-brokered deal to end the two-year war in Gaza, under which Israel is now pushing for the return of the bodies of dead hostages.
Avinatan Or was further welcomed home by Eddie Goldenberg, a senior generative AI expert at NVIDIA, writing on LinkedIn, "Avinatan Or, I hope you have a good excuse for not showing up to work at Nvidia for 738 days.
"But every Sunday morning for two years, the head of NVIDIA Israel's HR, Gideon Rosenberg, sent an email to all employees, counting the days you were in captivity and calling everyone to join him for a reminder vigil in front of the Kirya gate, held every Sunday evening. Even the global CEO, Jansen Huang, mentioned your name in every quarterly internal meeting, telling 40,000 employees that their colleague was being held captive by Hamas.
"How wonderful that you've returned home. I heard you have an amazing girlfriend who's eagerly waiting for you, loving parents, that you work at a place that cares for you, and I also have some pretty good news about what happened with your stocks over the past two years."
Video footage showed Or arriving at Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv after his release, accompanied by his family and by Argamani, who spent 246 days in Gaza and was rescued by Israeli soldiers.
Lost up to 40% of his body weight
Citing testimonies from the hostages and initial medical reports, Israeli media said Or was starved and lost up to 40% of his body weight. He was completely isolated and did not see other hostages.
Huang wrote that "night after night" Nvidia employees had stood in a vigil with Or's mother Ditza. He noted that for two years, thousands of Nvidia employees in Israel served in the military.
"Many have faced immense pain, loss, and uncertainty. Some have lost family members or loved ones," he said. "The losses to our Jewish, Druze, and Arab families alike have been immense."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Or and four other former hostages at the hospital on Wednesday.
Nvidia, a leading designer of high-end AI chips, entered Israel in 2020, and it is planning to expand there. It is located in Yokne'am, a hub for tech companies near Haifa.