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

Avinatan Or, an engineer working in Nvidia’s networking division, was among 20 living hostages freed by Hamas on Monday following a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.

As Or returned home after two years in Hamas captivity, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sent a letter to the chipmaker’s global workforce expressing gratitude and relief for the engineer’s release.

“I am deeply touched and deeply grateful to share that our colleague Avinatan Or was released to the Red Cross in Gaza a few minutes ago,” Huang wrote, adding: “After two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity, Avinatan has returned home.”

In the message spread within the company, Huang expressed his gratitude to the employees who supported Or’s family during the difficult process that lasted 738 days.

Taipei-born CEO thanks employees for “standing by his side” [Avinatan’s mother Ditza] “We are united in our determination to see Avinatan return home safely,” he said, adding that this solidarity “best reflects who we are.”

Reunion after two years

Or the now 32-year-old was kidnapped by Hamas along with his girlfriend Noa Argamani from the Nova Music Festival during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that sparked an all-out war in West Asia.

While Argamani was rescued in an Israeli military operation in June 2024, Or has not been seen since the day of the attack, Hamas released a video of the couple being kidnapped, which became among the best-known footage of that day.

Upon release, Or was greeted by Argamani with a video showing the couple reuniting after two difficult years, which went viral.

Since it was handed over to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and taken to Or IDF’s Re’im base, Israeli times reportedHe added that new photos of the Nvidia engineer show him looking visibly thin.