Hamas releases propaganda video showing Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander
Hamas' military wing released a propaganda video Saturday showing an Israeli American hostage.
It was the first video of its kind shared in months.
The undated video, posted on the secure messaging service Telegram, shows 20-year-old Edan Alexander. The message says Alexander has been held captive by Hamas for more than 420 days. If true, the video would have been taken this past week.
In the video – speaking in a mixture of Hebrew and English – Alexander speaks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying "you have neglected us."
He also addressed President-elect Donald Trump, asking him to use his "influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom."
In a statement via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, Alexander's mother Yael Alexander said her son "represents all the living hostages who cannot make their voices heard, and this voice needs to reverberate and shake everyone!"
Alexander grew up in New Jersey and was a soldier in the Israeli military when Hamas militants attacked on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023. The then 19-year-old was able to send a quick message to his mother amid the intense fighting around his base near the Gaza border.
He told her that despite having shrapnel embedded in his helmet from the explosions, he had managed to get to a protected area. After 7 a.m., his family lost contact, the Associated Press reported.
"He told me even though things were already getting dangerous around him. That was the last time I heard my son's voice. I cannot describe the pain of not knowing where your child is or how is he," Yael Alexander told CBS New York in October.
When a week-long ceasefire last November brought the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, some of the freed hostages said they had seen Alexander in captivity. Varda Ben Baruch, his grandmother, told the AP that the hostages told her Alexander kept his cool, encouraging them that everyone would be released soon.
Alexander's father Adi Alexander told "CBS Mornings" in September that they are pushing Israeli and American leaders for a ceasefire deal.
"We hope he's holding up and we're coming for him," Adi Alexander said. "He needs to survive."
Adi and Yael Alexander met with President Biden and Trump in Washington earlier this month and pleaded with them to work together to bring all the hostages home in a single deal, according to the AP.
More than 250 people were kidnapped and 1,200 killed when Hamas militants burst across the border and carried out a bloody attack on southern Israeli communities. Israel's subsequent war against Hamas has since killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Netanyahu's office said in a statement Saturday that he has spoken with Alexander's family after the release of the "brutal psychological warfare video."
"The Prime Minister said in the conversation that he felt very well the agony going through Edan and the hostages and their families, and promised that Israel is working with determination and in every way to return them home, along with all the hostages who are in the hands of the enemy," the statement said.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the White House has been in contact with the Alexander family. He said in a statement on Saturday that the propaganda video is "a cruel reminder of Hamas's terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own."
"The war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately — and would have ended months ago — if Hamas agreed to release the hostages," Savett said. "It has refused to do so, but as the President said last week, we have a critical opportunity to conclude the deal to release the hostages, stop the war, and surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza. This deal is on the table now."
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement that the video is "definite proof that despite all the rumors – there are living hostages and they are suffering greatly."
"One year after the first and only deal, it's clear to everyone: returning the hostages is only possible through a deal," the group said. "After more than 420 days of continuous abuse, starvation and darkness, the urgency of bringing home all 101 hostages cannot be overstated."
