The family of Edan Alexander said, in a statement, to wait for his release “in the coming days”. The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced on Sunday its intention to Release, on an unclear date, the Israeli-American hostageafter reporting direct negotiations with the United States in Doha. The only living hostage with American nationality still retained in Gaza, it had been removed while it was used in an elite unit in southern Israel, during the attacks of October 7, 2023.
Edan Alexander has appeared in several videos broadcast by Hamas since its capture. On a firstlast November, the young man with an emaciated face marked by fatigue was addressed in English President Donald Trumpand in Hebrew to the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahouthat he implored to do their maximum to obtain his release.
BREAKING: Hamas will release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander.
After 580+ days in captivity, it’s official. Edan is coming home.
I pray this transfer goes smoothly and that Edan is soon in his family’s embrace. pic.twitter.com/HqsAqNk1kv
– Hen Mazzig (@henmazigt) May 11, 2025
More recently, last April, the young man had appeared in another video of just over three minutes broadcast by the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades. Sitting in a cramped room, the hostage was addressed to the camera saying that he wanted to go home to celebrate the holidays (Israel celebrated at this time Jewish Passover). Gesturing frequently with the hands, he criticized the Israeli government for not having yet obtained his release.
American youth
Originally from Tel Aviv, Edan Alexandre grew up in the state of New Jersey, in the United States. In 2022, just a graduate of an American high school, he made the decision to return to Israel to join the army. He then voluntarily engaged in the Golani Brigadein which he served on October 7, 2023, near the Gaza border, relates on its site The association all October 7.
A few days before the attack, he had taken advantage of two days of rest, which he had spent in the company of his family. Edan’s sister describes him as someone “joyful and full of life, deeply attached to her family and always inclined to protect them”.
In the early morning of October 7, his mother, Yael Alexander, sent him a message to make sure he is fine. Edan tries to reassure her, while the situation is reaching out more and more. Then he calls his mother, explains the seriousness of the situation. The latter asks him to protect himself. She will no longer have any news from her son. “I sent him SMS, again and again, but nothing was passing,” she told CNN.
This Friday, Yael said to Times of Israel His difficulty in living without knowing. “I am invaded by sadness,” she explained to the Israeli daily. “I don’t sleep at night, I cry every night. It’s been 580 days, and I’m still stuck on October 7. Emotions, fear, emptiness in my heart … I only hope that something will happen, that a change will occur soon. We have to turn the page. With her husband Adi, they have multiplied since the start of the war back and forth between Israel and the United States, where they had notably met the ex-president Joe Biden.
The attack on Hamas on October 7, 2023 led to the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped in Israel that day, 58 are still retained in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army. Israeli reprisals left at least 52,829 dead in Gazamostly civilians, according to data published on Sunday by the Ministry of Health of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.
