German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, 21, is expected to finally return to Israel more than two years after the security guard-turned hero attempted to fight off a group of terrorists with only stones.
Mark Mizrachi, who was with Rom when Hamas invaded on October 7, 2023, recounted for initiatives seeking to tell the stories of hostages that his friend had gathered a group of people to throw stones and fight off the terrorists.
While the defensive strategy had initially worked, and the attackers backed off, "Suddenly a rocket-propelled grenade was fired and then Rom disappeared without a trace," Mark said.
Naama, a festival survivor, also contacted Rom’s family to recount how the trained medic had risked his life leading her to safety despite having wounds to both his hands, according to Israeli media.
Treatment in captivity
Since his abduction, Rom’s condition has seemingly deteriorated under the harsh, torturous conditions imposed by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The terror group and Hamas ally published a video of him looking emaciated in July, complaining of injuries to his foot, which prevented him from standing.
"I've run out of food and water. They would give me a little bit of food, but today, nothing at all," he said in the propaganda video. "Only three pieces of falafel, that's what I ate today. Yesterday I barely ate a plate of rice. Bring in food, a liter of water. I am on the verge of death."
Rom's current weight is estimated to be 43-47 kg., a decrease of around 31%, according to The Health Division of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in August.
He said that he spent all day lying on a mattress and that the terrorists guarding him had become more brutal in their treatment of him as the humanitarian situation deteriorated in Gaza.
The terror group had claimed to have lost contact with the group holding him that same month, claiming that Israeli soldiers had besieged the area where the terror cell was holding him.
Following the release of the video, Rom’s mother Tami Braslavski's mother said, "I have never seen my son like this. Rom is not shouting or angry—he speaks quietly, in a weak voice like a person who has accepted the fact that there's nothing left to fight for and may not come out of there alive," she continued. "They say that when words run out, tears speak. Rom, my life, I am crying with you."
The first sign of life from the Pisgat Ze'ev native came from freed hostage Sasha Troufanov in March, whom he had briefly met during captivity.