In a profound testimony to human resilience, Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander has finally returned to his family after enduring 583 days in Hamas captivity under conditions his father Adi Alexander describes as "unimaginable." The 20-year-old was released this week following more than 19 months of confinement in Gaza tunnels, where he faced physical abuse, prolonged isolation, and injury.
"His whole body has bedbug bites. His skin is in terrible condition. He survived on pitas, rice, and legumes. At some point, a tunnel collapsed on him and injured his shoulder. Entire months without sunlight, without showers, with pain and complete isolation," Adi Alexander told The New York Times in an interview following his son's release.
The father revealed disturbing details about the initial period of captivity, when the captors placed a sack over Edan's head. He was restrained, beaten, and subjected to interrogations – though these yielded little useful information for Hamas. "He had only been a soldier for ten months. They knew about the
arrangement of the IDF much better than he did," Adi Alexander explained.
Despite the excruciating uncertainty that defined nearly two years of waiting, Adi maintained that he refused to surrender to hopelessness. "We never lost hope. I could not allow myself to think any other way," he said.
The moment of breakthrough arrived unexpectedly on Sunday when Adi, at his New Jersey home, discovered eight missed calls from United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. When they finally connected, Witkoff delivered life-changing news, saying, "Stand next to your wife, put on speaker. In ten minutes, Hamas will announce your son's release."
The family immediately departed for Israel. On Monday evening, they experienced the emotional reunion with Edan at Reim base before being airlifted by helicopter to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where an entire floor was dedicated to their privacy and recovery. "We have the whole floor! The whole family is here. It's amazing," the father remarked with evident emotion.
Amid all the trauma and suffering, Adi identified one essential aspect of his son's personality that remained intact. "He was this goofy, funny guy. He's still funny. I don't think he's a different person. He is simply tired," his father noted, suggesting that despite everything, the core of who Edan is survived the ordeal.
