Family of Oct. 7 hostage to speak in LA – NBC Los Angeles

The family of a 21-year-old Israeli man abducted from the Nova music festival in October 2023 and looking visibly emaciated in a video released by captors will speak Monday morning in Los Angeles.

Rom Braslavski was working as a security guard at the festival Oct. 7, 2023 when he and other were abducted in the terror attack. Braslavski stayed behind to help others escape, remaining at the site for hours, his family said.

A recent video released by Palestinian Islamic Jihad showed Braslavski looking thin and pale. The video and another released by Hamas in early August showing an emaciated hostage sparked outrage and protest in Israel.

“We cannot endure even one more minute without bringing him home,” Braslavski’s cousin Adam Hajaj said in a statement following the video’s release. “This video tore my family apart!”

At the Simon Wiesenthal Center news conference, family members are expected to plead for immediate humanitarian care for Braslavski and other surviving hostages. Photos of Braslavski in 2023 and 2025 were displayed at the Monday news conference.

Braslavski’s grandmother, 77-year-old Yael Niinikoski, shared a letter she sent to the International Committee of the Red Cross pleading for help for her grandson.

“He stayed behind to help others, saving multiple lives before he was captured,” she said.

It was not until April 2025 when the family first saw images of Braslavski, more than 500 days since he was taken captive, Niinikoski, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, said.

“My heart is torn open each and every day since his capture,” she said. “My only wish in life is to see my grandson again.”

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials, in the October 2023 massacre that led to the war in Gaza. At least 62,263 Palestinians have been killed in the war since it started on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.