Hamas'The military wing released a propaganda video on Saturday that shows an Israeli American hostage.
It was the first video of its kind shared in several months.
The undated video, posted on the secure messaging service Telegram, shows 20-year-old Aidan Alexander. The message said that Alexander had been captured Captured by Hamas For more than 420 days. If true, the video might have been taken last week.
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In the video – speaking in a mix of Hebrew and English – Alexander speaks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, “You have ignored us.”
He also addressed President-elect Donald Trump, asking him to use “his influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom.”
In a statement through the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, Alexander's mother Yael Alexander said that her son ,Represents all the surviving hostages who cannot make their voices heard, and this voice needs to resonate and shake everyone!”
Alexander grew up in New Jersey And he was a soldier in the Israeli army when Hamas terrorists attacked on the morning of October 7, 2023. The then-19-year-old was able to send an instant message to his mother amid intense fighting around his base near the Gaza border. ,
He told him that despite getting shrapnel in his helmet from the explosions, he had managed to reach a protected area. The Associated Press reported that contact with his family was lost after 7 a.m.
“He told me while things were already getting dangerous around him,” Yale Alexander said. “That was the last time I heard my son's voice. I can't describe the pain of not knowing where your child is.” Is it or how is it?” CBS New York In October.
When? A week-long ceasefire last November 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, with some of the freed hostages saying they had seen Alexander in captivity. His grandmother, Varda Ben Baruch, told the AP that the captors told her that Alexander remained calm and encouraged him that everyone would be released soon.
Maya Alleruzzo/AP
Alexander's father Adi Alexander told “CBS Mornings” in September. That they are pressuring Israeli and American leaders for a ceasefire agreement.
“We hope he sticks around and we're coming for him,” Adi Alexander said. “He needs to survive.”
According to the AP, Adi and Yael Alexander met with President Biden and Trump in Washington earlier this month and urged them to work together to bring all the hostages home under a single agreement.
More than 250 people were abducted and 1,200 were killed when Hamas militants crossed the border and launched bloody attacks on southern Israeli communities. More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's subsequent war against Hamas, according to local health officials.
Maya Alleruzzo/AP
Netanyahu's office said in a statement Saturday that he had spoken to Alexander's family after the release of the “brutal psychological warfare video.”
“The Prime Minister said in the conversation that he felt very well the suffering of the hostages and their families in Aden, and promised that Israel will fight with all the hostages as well as with determination to bring them back home and by all means. Is working.” “At the hands of the enemy,” the statement said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters said in a statement that the video was “concrete evidence that despite all rumors – there are surviving hostages and they are suffering greatly.”
“One year after the first and only deal, it is clear to everyone: returning the hostages is only possible through an agreement,” the group said. “After more than 420 days of continuous abuse, starvation and darkness, the urgency of bringing all 101 hostages home cannot be overstated.”