Longer apart than together: Hamas hostage is reunited with his ‘hero’ air hostess girlfriend who spent eight months campaigning for his freedom – having dated him for just weeks

A rescued hostage held by Hamas for 245 days was shocked to find the Israeli air hostess he had dated for just two months waiting for him back home.

Jennifer Master, 32, stood by 27-year-old Andrey Kozlov for eight months even helping his Russian mother learn Hebrew as they fought side-by-side for him.

But she warned he has returned a ‘changed man’ after being kept handcuffed for weeks on end, forced to eat and drink with his hands bound behind his back.

Andrey has told how the terrorists tried to convert him to Islam by making him read the Quran every day as they taunted him that he would never leave.

Guards cruelly forced him to draw a picture of his mother, Evgeniia Kozlova, whose face he could not remember so long had he been held captive in Gaza.

But on Saturday Andrey was saved in a daring special forces raid along with 26-year-old Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, 21, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

Andrey Kozlov (C), freed from Gaza in an Israeli military operation a day earlier, meets with his parents Mikhail Kozlov, 52, Evgeniia Kozlova, 52, brother Dima Kozlov, 17 and girlfriend Jennifer Master, 32

Kozlov is seen communicating with family and friends for the first time after his release

Girlfriend and family of Andrey Kozlov, who was freed from Gaza in an Israeli military operation

Andrey has told how the terrorists tried to convert him to Islam by making him read the Quran every day

A picture of Kozlov sporting Miss Master’ lipstick and emblazoned with the word ‘Home’ and a drawing of a heart

The Russian sous-chef could barely believe his eyes as he was reunited with Miss Master at Sheba Medical Centre, near Tel Aviv.

‘He was very surprised,’ laughs Miss Master, a flight attendant for Israel’s El Al airline who visited Andrey with his brother Dima, 17.

‘He was sitting on the bed and I was the first to meet him. He just fell on the ground, crying. I took his brother and we are just hugging, squeezing him.

‘He said, ”I was worried you were already dating someone else.” He said it twice – ”I thought you had moved on”.’

Miss Master matched with Andrey on Bumble last August and the amateur surfer and DJ immediately won her over with his ‘good heart’.

‘He is a very gentle, honest person,’ she tells the Daily Mail in Tel Aviv. 

‘He was always there for me, that’s what made me love him.’

But their fledgling romance was shattered when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova festival where he was working as a security guard.

Miss Master was forced to call his parents in St Petersburg, who had no idea who she was, and tell them she feared their son had been killed or kidnapped.

Andrey had only moved to Israel a year before and had few friends, but his girlfriend stepped up to lead his campaign.

‘She is a hero,’ Dima said. His father, Mikhail, added: ‘She is one of the luckiest things. She responded to our tragedy – we are endlessly grateful.’

Miss Master helped Mrs Kozlova, 52, a computer analyst, fly to Tel Aviv and move into Andrey’s room and together they fought to bring him back.

Kozlov is seen in this picture supplied by his family 

Jennifer Master writes on a poster of Kozlov following his release

Kozlov’s family are seen in this image

Miss Master matched with Andrey on Bumble last August and the amateur surfer and DJ immediately won her over with his ‘good heart’

Kozlov is a DJ and amateur surfer

‘I didn’t know what to say to her,’ Miss Master said on meeting the mother for the first time. ‘I just said, Evgeniia, everything you want – I’m here for you. Everything.’

It was only after three weeks that the IDF discovered Andrey had been kidnapped – but they did not know if he was alive or dead. The first sign of life came in January.

The two women travelled the world, raising his case with governments across Israel, Europe, Russia and America, before finally, last Saturday, the miracle happened.

‘I was just screaming,’ Miss Master said on getting the phone call to say Andrey had been saved. ‘Now I can’t sleep. I waited eight months to see Andrey and I just want to stare at him.’

Mrs Kozlova, who was lobbying in Russia for his return at the time, got on the next flight to Tel Aviv with Mr Kozlov, 52, an economist.

Emotional footage shows Andrey collapsing to the floor in tears, hugging and kissing his mother’s feet as she arrives at the hospital last Sunday.

‘I didn’t even know what to do,’ Mrs Kozlova told the Daily Mail. ‘I just wanted to hug him and calm him down. I wanted him to laugh with me.’

But after the initial reunion, Andrey has started to open up about his ordeal. ‘He spent two months in captivity with his arms and legs tied,’ Mrs Kozlova said.

‘When your hands are tied behind you, it is very difficult to eat. I don’t know how he would eat or drink or go to the toilet, we didn’t have time to ask absolutely everything.

‘He said it was such a relief when his hands that had been tied behind his back were finally tied in front of his body. It was such a happy moment.

‘He talked about this cheerfully – but he also told us that there were some things he would never tell us about.’

Family of Andrey Kozlov, who was freed from Gaza in an Israeli military operation, hold his hostage poster after he was returned

Miss Master is seen holding Kozlov’s picture

A picture of Andrey Kozlov is seen among other posters of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7

Miss Master agreed. ‘He told me very bad stuff,’ she said. ‘The terrorists forced him to draw his mother.

‘He said, ‘I don’t want to’, as he couldn’t really remember every feature because he didn’t see her for a long time.

‘They said, ”You want punishment? You want to be at the toilet for an hour?” He said, ”No, no. No punishment. Ok, I will do,” and he did it and he was crying.’

They also tried to convert him to Islam and taught him Arabic but ‘it didn’t work’ as he ‘does not believe in God’.

Each day he wrote ‘another day’ in a diary to try and stay sane and would draw satisfaction cursing his tormentors in Russian – a language they couldn’t understand.

Andrey, who was held with Almog and Shlomi throughout, was eventually allowed to play cards with his fellow hostages.

But while some captors joined in with the games, others were cruel. ‘They would play tricks on their minds and abuse them,’ Miss Master said.

‘It was awful – and it changed him,’ Miss Master said. ‘He’s much more sensitive. He cries a lot. I don’t know this Andrey. Andrey never cried.

‘We dated only two months, but he was a very calm man and very, like, he had his centre – and now he just breaks from everything.’

While his recovery begins, the families are agreed that despite the success of the mission there must be a deal for the 120 who remain.

‘What happened to us is big, big luck,’ said Miss Master. ‘My message to the government is we must make a hostage deal.’