After more than 580 days in captivity, 20-year-old soldier Edan Alexander is expected to be released in the coming days from Hamas captivity as a gesture by the terrorist organization to the Trump administration, with which it is holding direct talks.
Alexander, a lone soldier from New Jersey, was abducted from the Kisufim outpost after volunteering to cover a Shabbat shift at the base. At the end of November 2024, his family received a sign of life when the terrorist organization Hamas released a video of him.
In the video, Edan addressed his family, "To Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, every day that passes, the pain inside grows, I miss you so much, every day, I pray to see you again soon, please stay strong. It's only a matter of time until this nightmare ends."
Video: Hamas propaganda video with Alexander in captivity
The captive soldier also appealed to US President Donald Trump, asking for assistance in securing his release, and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, "People of Israel, don't abandon us. We want to return home with our sanity intact. Fear and isolation are killing us, please don't forget us. It's not fair that we pay for a mistake the government made. Please, citizens of Israel, go out and protest every day, put pressure on the government."
Video: Alexander's parents call for a hostage deal
Chillingly, on the morning of Saturday, October 7, Yael, Edan's mother, was visiting Israel. In a phone call that morning, she told her son, "Edan, I'm with you. Take care of yourself. I'm with you. I love you." That was how their conversation ended.
After the video was released, his mother Yael said, "I haven't been breathing for 500 days. For 500 days, he's been in darkness, in a tunnel underground, without sunlight, without a mother's hug, without knowing when it will end. 500 days of fear, hunger, and unimaginable uncertainty. I'll only start breathing again when everyone returns, the living for rehabilitation, the fallen for burial."
Edan's grandmother, Varda Ben Baruch, is also highly active in the hostage families' advocacy group. She even joined a protest outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, demanding her grandson's release.
She protests alongside other families whose loved ones were not included in the first phase of the deal, saying, "Edani, my dear and beloved grandson, it's almost here... there's light at the end of the tunnel... and you will walk toward it and come home. We'll meet, we'll hug, and we won't let go. You were born to be free."
