Key Takeaways
- Nvidia Employee Freed After Two Years in Captivity: Avinatan Or, an Israeli Nvidia engineer abducted by Hamas in 2023, was released this week under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
- Jensen Huang Praises Strength and Unity: In a heartfelt letter, Nvidia’s CEO commended Or’s family and colleagues for their resilience, calling Or’s mother “an inspiration” and highlighting the “extraordinary bravery” of Nvidia employees in Israel.
- A Call for Peace and Shared Humanity: Huang’s message went beyond corporate solidarity, emphasizing unity across faiths and nationalities. “Grief knows no borders,” he wrote, urging hope for “peace, understanding, and a future without fear.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang released an emotional letter Monday celebrating the return of Avinatan Or, an Israeli Nvidia engineer freed after two harrowing years in Hamas captivity.
Or was among those kidnapped at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Reim during Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023, terror attack. His partner, Noa Argamani, was rescued last year in an Israeli military operation and became a vocal advocate for the release of hostages still held in Gaza.
Thanks to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas, Or was freed this week along with other surviving hostages. “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,” Huang wrote. “After two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity, Avinatan has come home.”
Huang praised Or’s mother, Ditza, calling her “an inspiration” for her “strength, courage, and unwavering hope.” He also commended Nvidia’s Israeli employees, many of whom have served in the military or lost loved ones during the conflict. “Thousands of Nvidia employees have served with extraordinary bravery in defense of their communities,” Huang wrote. “Some have lost family members or loved ones.”
He acknowledged several tragic losses within Nvidia’s Israeli division, including the deaths of employee Amit Chayut and Danielle Waldman, daughter of Mellanox founder Eyal Waldman.
“The losses to our Jewish, Druze, and Arab families alike have been immense,” Huang concluded. “Grief knows no borders. We mourn together, and we hope together — for peace, understanding, and a future without fear.”