Hamas releases propaganda video showing Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander
HamasThe military released a propaganda video on Saturday showing an Israeli-American hostage.
This is the first video of its kind to be shared in months.
The undated video, posted on the secure messaging service Telegram, features 20-year-old Edan Alexander. Sources say Alexander has been detained Captured by Hamas More than 420 days. If true, the video would have been filmed last week.
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In the video, Alexander told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a mixture of Hebrew and English: “You are ignoring us.”
He also addressed President-elect Donald Trump, asking him to use “the influence and full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedoms.”
Alexander’s mother, Yael Alexander, said in a statement issued by the headquarters of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum that her son “Representing all the living hostages who have no voice, this voice needs to echo and shock everyone! “
Alexander grew up in New Jersey He was a soldier in the Israeli army when Hamas militants attacked on the morning of October 7, 2023. The then 19-year-old was able to quickly send messages to his mother during fierce fighting around the base near the Gaza border.
He told her that despite shrapnel from the explosion being embedded in his helmet, he still managed to reach the protected area. According to the Associated Press, contact with his family was lost after 7 a.m.
“He told me that the situation around him had become dangerous though. That was the last time I heard my son’s voice. I can’t describe the pain of not knowing where your child is or how he is,” Yael Alexander Tell cbs new york October.
when A week-long ceasefire last November 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, and some of the released hostages said they saw Alexander imprisoned. His grandmother, Warda Ben Baruch, told The Associated Press that the hostages told her Alexander to stay calm and encouraged them to release everyone soon.
Maya Areruzo/AP
Alexander’s father, Adi Alexander, told September “CBS Morning Show” They are pushing for a ceasefire between Israeli and American leaders.
“We hope he hangs in there and we’re coming to him,” Adi Alexander said. “He needs to survive.”
Adey and Yael Alexander met with President Biden and Trump in Washington earlier this month and implored them to work together on a deal to bring all the hostages home, the Associated Press reported.
Hamas militants crossed the border and launched bloody attacks on southern Israeli communities, resulting in the kidnapping of more than 250 people and the deaths of 1,200. Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Maya Areruzo/AP
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday that he had spoken to Alexander’s family following the release of the “brutal psychological warfare video.”
During the conversation, the Prime Minister said that he sympathized with the pain endured by Edan, the hostages and their families, and pledged that Israel would unswervingly take all measures to return them and all hostages present to their homes. at the hands of the enemy,” the statement said.
National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt said the White House has been in contact with the Alexander family. He said in a statement on Saturday that the propaganda video was a “brutal reminder of Hamas’s campaign of terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own.”
“If Hamas agreed to release the hostages, the war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately and ended months ago,” Savit said. “It refuses to do so, but as the president said last week “We have a critical opportunity to reach a deal that will free the hostages, stop the war, and provide significant humanitarian aid to Gaza. This deal is now on the table.”
The headquarters of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement that the video “clearly proves that, despite all rumors, the hostages are still alive and that they are suffering greatly.”
“One year after the first and only agreement, it is clear to everyone: only through an agreement can the hostages be repatriated,” the organization said. “After more than 420 days of continuous abuse, hunger and darkness, 101 The urgency of bringing all the hostages home cannot be overstated.”
