Who Is Edan Alexander, the American Hostage Held by Hamas in Gaza?

Edan Alexander, 21, is the final dwelling American citizen held by Hamas in Gaza. On Sunday, the Palestinian militant group said it would free him, simply days earlier than President Trump is about to journey to the Center East.

Who’s Edan Alexander?

Mr. Alexander is an American Israeli twin citizen who grew up in Tenafly, N.J.

In 2022, throughout his senior 12 months of highschool, he joined Garin Tzabar, which prepares younger individuals from around the globe to hitch the Israel Protection Forces. He moved to Israel to serve within the army after he graduated and was assigned to the infantry.

Mr. Alexander was stationed close to the border with Gaza in September 2023.

How was he taken hostage?

Mr. Alexander was kidnapped in the course of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel that ignited the conflict in Gaza. He was taken from a tiny army outpost close to the border with Gaza.

Final 12 months, Hamas launched a video of him.

An American Israeli pal of Mr. Alexander, Omer Neutra, who was serving in the identical submit, was additionally taken by Hamas.

In December, the White Home introduced that Mr. Neutra was killed on Oct. 7 and that Hamas had been holding his stays for the reason that assault. He was 21.

How has Mr. Alexander’s household responded?

His dad and mom, Adi and Yael Alexander, had been born in Israel, and so they have two different youngsters. They’ve agitated relentlessly for Mr. Alexander’s freedom, assembly with officers and talking at rallies.

“We dwell in agony every day that passes with out our son,” his dad and mom wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times in September after the invention of the physique of one other hostage, the Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

On Sunday, the Alexanders traveled to Israel with Trump administration officers. In a press release, the household referred to as his coming return “the best reward conceivable.”

In addition they urged Israel’s authorities to barter the discharge of the remaining captives, saying, “No hostage ought to be left behind.”