JERUSALEM — The mother of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander was both shaken and relieved to see her son in a Hamas-issued propaganda video.
“To get this video it’s a huge relief for me to see that he’s still strong. It was amazing,” Yael Alexander said in a video call Saturday, hours after the video was posted on the Telegram channel of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Edan, 20, who appears under duress in the video, calls on President-elect Donald Trump to use his power to negotiate for the freedom of those who remain in captivity in Gaza. He adds that he does not want to end up like fellow American Israeli Hersh Goldberg Polin, who was killed while being held by Hamas in August.
Yael Alexander said she spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after the video was released. He told her that he’s with her and her son, and that he’s “going to do whatever he can” to secure a deal to free the remaining hostages.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that he “feels very much the anguish” of what Edan Alexander and the hostages were going through and assured them that Israel was “working with determination and in every way to return them home, along with all the hostages who are in the hands of the enemy.”
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group appeared to be holding, but there have been few signs of progress in talks to secure a release of the remaining hostages or a cessation of fighting with Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials to explore ways to reach a deal with Israel that could secure the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.
Yael Alexander urged Trump to “act now” and work with President Joe Biden to secure the release of the hostages. “This is not an issue for Democrats or Republicans,” she said. “This is an issue for everyone to act. This is human life. It’s seven Americans. They need to come back home.”