After 584 days in captivity, Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, 21, was released today as part of negotiations between the United States and the Palestinian terror organization Hamas.
His family campaigned tirelessly for his freedom over the past 18 months. On the first anniversary, on Oct. 7, 2024, of the terror attacks that saw Edan taken hostage, his parents, Adi and Yael, and brother Roy, marked the day by visiting the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—along with, then candidate for a second term, President Donald J. Trump to pray for Edan’s safe release. Today their prayers were answered.
The Ohel has increasingly become a place that sees people from all walks of life coming to pray and seek inspiration. Approximately a million people visit every year, and in November 2023, 170 family members of hostages flew to the Ohel. Since then, some of the hostages who have been released returned with their loved ones who prayed for them to pray for the remaining hostages and for the safety of Israel.
After praying at the Ohel, President Trump greeted the Alexanders warmly and in the course of the conversation they shared that they had proof that Edan was alive. That was news to President Trump, who in the weeks and months before the October visit, had been saying that he believed most of the hostages were no longer were.
Hundreds of people gathered for a special morning prayer service by Chabad of Tenafly, where Alexander grew up and attended Chabad institutions in his youth, to watch and celebrate his release. People around the world are overjoyed by the news.
On the flight to Israel, where Adi Alexander would finally be reunited with his son, fellow passengers began singing a prayer in the aisle of the plane mid-flight for the well being of all those in the house of Israel in distress of captivity. It was an emotional moment for everyone on the flight who had been praying for the wellbeing of Edan and others held captive.
As word of Alexander’s liberation reached the family, his grandmother Varda Ben Baruch linked her grandson’s redemption to the holiday of Pesach Sheni, the second Passover, celebrated that day.
“Edan merited to have his Pesach Sheni, to have a second chance,” she said. “Edan gets to be free today, to break free from slavery to freedom.”
Alexander was 19 years old when he was kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, from the army base by Nirim, near the southern border with Gaza. Born in Tel Aviv and raised in Tenafly, N.J., he began preparations to join the Israel Defense Forces in his last year of high school and moved to Israel after graduating to begin his service in the Golani Brigade.
Alexander was on base when rockets started raining down on Israel on Oct. 7 and responded that he had shrapnel caught in his helmet from surrounding explosions but found a protected area when his mother messaged from the United States concernedly. His family lost contact with him shortly after 7 a.m. Alexander was one of 251 hostages kidnapped from Israel that day.
Several hostages released in the November 2023 deal confirmed to Alexander’s family members that they had seen him in Gaza, and that he had kept calm and encouraged the other hostages that they would be home soon. During his 18 months in captivity, Hamas published two psychological warfare videos of Alexander—the first in November 2024 and the second last month, ahead of the holiday of Passover. They also used his profile as an American citizen to taunt Israel, claiming that they had lost Alexander last month after Israeli strikes on terror targets in Gaza, which proved to be more false propaganda.
Alexander, who turned 21 in captivity, is the last American citizen of the up to 24 living hostages in Gaza. Four American passport-holders that were murdered on Oct. 7 are among the 34 deceased hostages whose bodies are still being held as ransom by the Hamas terrorists, including his friend and fellow American-Israeli soldier Omer Neutra. The release of Alexander was agreed in negotiations led by Steve Witkoff as a gesture to the United States, and did not obligate Israel to release any additional Palestinian terrorists or pause the war against Hamas. Israel has welcomed his release, reiterating their consistent call for an end to the war once all hostages are returned home and Hamas is disarmed.
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