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HamasThe military wing released a propaganda video on Saturday showing an Israeli-American hostage.
It was the first such video shared in months.
The undated video, posted on secure messaging service Telegram, shows 20-year-old Edan Alexander. The message says that Alexander has been arrested captive by Hamas for more than 420 days. If true, the video would have been made last week.
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In the video, speaking in a mixture of Hebrew and English, Alexander speaks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him “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 through the headquarters of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, Alexander’s mother, Yael Alexander, said her son “It represents all living hostages who cannot make their voices heard, and that voice must resonate and shake everyone!”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who appeared on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday, called the video a “cruel reminder of the barbarism and brutality of Hamas.”
Sullivan noted that he believes Hamas is “feeling the pressure” after Hezbollah cut off ceasefire agreement with Israel last week, and then the top leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar was killed in October. The national security adviser said Hamas “may be looking again” at a deal to end the fighting and return the hostages.
“The key player right now that has the decision on the ceasefire is Hamas,” Sullivan said.
Alexander grew up in New Jersey and was a soldier in the Israeli army when Hamas militants attacked in the early hours of October 7, 2023. The then 19-year-old was able to send a quick message to his mother amid heavy fighting around from its base near the Gaza border. .
He told him that despite having shrapnel embedded in his helmet from the explosions, he had managed to reach a protected area. After 7 a.m., her 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 can’t describe the pain of not knowing where your son is or how he is ” said Yael Alexander. CBS New York in October
when a week-long ceasefire last November led to 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 that Alexander remained calm and encouraged them that everyone would be released soon.
Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Alexander’s father Adi Alexander said “CBS Mornings” in September who are pressing Israeli and American leaders for a cease-fire agreement.
“Let’s hope he holds on and we’ll come get him,” Adi Alexander said. “He has 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 crossed the border and carried out a bloody attack on communities in southern Israel. Since then, Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday that it has spoken with Alexander’s family after the “brutal psychological warfare video” was released.
“The prime minister said in the conversation that he felt the agony of Edan and the hostages and their families, and promised that Israel is working determinedly and in every way to bring them home, together with with all the hostages at home in the hands of the enemy,” the statement said.
US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said the White House has been in contact with the Alexander family. He said in a statement Saturday that the propaganda video is “a cruel reminder of Hamas’ terror against the citizens of several countries, including our own.”
“The war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of the people of Gaza would end immediately, and it would have ended months ago, if Hamas agreed to release the hostages,” Savett said. “He has refused to do so, but as the president said last week, we have a critical opportunity to conclude the agreement to release the hostages, stop the war and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza. This agreement is about the table now.”
The headquarters of the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families said in a statement that the video is “definitive proof that, despite all the rumours, there are hostages alive and they are suffering greatly.”
“One year after the first and only agreement, it is clear to everyone: returning the hostages is only possible through an agreement,” the group said. “After more than 420 days of continuous abuse, hunger and darkness, the urgency of bringing home the 101 hostages cannot be overstated.”
