Edan Alexander, a « typical young American » who became Israeli soldier then the hostage that Hamas – Liberation has just released

Last Israeli-American hostage owned by Hamas, Edan Alexander is the first to be released as part of Visit Donald Trump in the Middle Eaststarted Monday, May 12. He will have spent more than 19 months of captivity. His release, upstream of the arrival of the American billionaire, had been presented by Israel as « A gesture (from the Islamist movement) to the Americans, unconditionally ». It allowed a temporary suspension of bombing in Gaza, offering a rare respite to its inhabitants.

The Israeli army confirmed in the evening on Monday that the ex-hostage had been handed over to it in the Gaza Strip, before crossing the border to enter Israeli territory. He will be subject to medical examinations before finding his family, according to the army.

During his abduction October 7it has been less than a year since Edan Alexander, 21, enlisted in the Israeli army. « Our son Edan has left everything, his friends, his potential studies, his comfortable life in the United States and us, his family, to immigrate alone in Israel and engage in the Golani brigade, in order to defend the country he loves so much »said his parents.

When the terrorist assault is launched, the young man – who is then 19 years old – is on duty on the edge of the Gaza Strip, in the military post where he is parked, near Kibbutz Nirim. His last call is for his mother: « Mom, don’t ask for what’s going on here. I see terrible things, like the Second World War. I received a burst of shells in my helmet, but I’m fine. ”

The young soldier will have spent more than 500 days in the Gazaouis tunnels, and his family received several signs of life. The first time in November 2023, during the release of hostages: some of them assured having seen it, handcuffed in the underground. A year later, in November 2024, Idan Alexander appeared in a Hamas propaganda video, pale face, dark circles.

The last proof of life is very recent on April 12. In this new video, the young man seems to give up, clearly speaking under constraint: « There is no more hope ». « I see that Netanyahu controls the State as a dictator … I heard a few weeks ago that Hamas was ready to free myself but you refused and you abandoned me »he deplored.

He said he wanted to go home to celebrate the holidays, while Israel celebrated Pessah, the Jewish Passover. « All, the Israeli government, the American administration and the army, lied to my people », he launched, before addressing Donald Trump: « I thought you would manage to get me out of here alive ».

On April 15, Hamas said he had « Lost contact » With the group holding Edan Alexander, after an Israeli strike in Gaza, accentuating concerns about his fate. Five days later, her Israeli grandmother Varda Ben Baruch went to the edge of the Gaza Strip, with relatives of other hostages, and appealed to him, according to a video transmitted by the forum of hostage families: « Edanile (affectionate diminutive from Edan in Hebrew), it is grandmother who speaks to you (…) We have received a sign of life from you the Night of Passover (…) remains strong. We love you and we do everything we can for you to be released and all the hostages go home. Edanile, I may be tired, but I don’t give up. Grandmother does not give up her grandson! ”

According to a local newspaper from a New Jersey County where he grew up, his friends and loved ones describe Edan Alexander as a warm, funny and athletic teenager. In an interview with the newspaper, his father, Adi Alexander, presents him as a « Young typical American »fan of the New York Knicks basketball team, loving swimming and spending time with his friends.

Born in Tel Aviv of Israeli parents, Adi and Yael, Edan had moved with his family moved to the United States when he was still a baby, first in Maryland, before setting up in 2008 in Tenafly, New Jersey. The young man, very sporty, often went to Israel to visit his grandparents and had celebrated his bar Mitzvah (rite from adulthood in Judaism), according to the newspaper Northjersey. Of the 251 people kidnapped in Israel on October 7, 57 are still retained in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.