‘Avinatan has come home’: Jensen Huang celebrates Nvidia employee’s release from Hamas custody

Avinatan Or, an engineer working with Nvidia's networking division, was among the 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday following a US-brokered truce between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.

As Or made his way back home, after two years in Hamas captivity, Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang shot out a letter to the chipmaker's global workforce, expressing his gratitude and relief at the engineer's release.

"I am profoundly moved and deeply grateful to share that, just moments ago, our colleague, Avinatan Or, was released to the Red Cross in Gaza," wrote Huang, adding, "After two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity, Avinatan has come home."

In the message, which was circulated internally, Huang also made known his appreciation for employees who had supported Or's family through his 738-day-long ordeal.

The Taipei-born CEO went on thank employees who "stood with her [Avinatan's mother Ditza] in vigil, united in determination that Avinatan would return home safely,” adding that such solidarity “reflected the very best of who we are."

Reunion after two years

Or, currently aged 32, was abducted by Hamas along with his girlfriend Noa Argamani from the Nova Music Festival during the October 7 attacks of 2023, which sparked a full-blown war in West Asia.

While Argamani was rescued in a Israeli military operation in June 2024, Or was not seen since the day of the attack, when Hamas released a video of the couple being kidnapped in what became some of the most well-known footage from the day.

Upon release, Or was greeted by Argamani, with a video of the couple's reunion after two painstaking years going viral.

Since being handed over the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), Or has been briught to the IDF's Re’im base, the Times of Israel reported, adding that new photos of the Nvidia engineer showed that he looked noticeably thin.