The last surviving Israeli-American hostage held in Gaza appears to be speaking under duress in a video shared by Hamas as he criticises the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.
Edan Alexander was a soldier in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian terrorists during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, published the more than three-minute clip showing Alexander seated in a small, enclosed space.
‘We have been deserted. I am at a breaking point because of this disgusting world and this disgusting Israeli government. Why am I not home with my family and friends?,’ he said in darkened footage which only shows his face.
He said he wants to return home to celebrate the holidays. Israel is currently marking Passover, the holiday that commemorates the biblical liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Alexander, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in the US state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after high school to join the army.
‘As we begin the holiday evening in the USA, our family in Israel is preparing to sit around the Seder table,’ Alexander’s family said in a statement released by the Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
His parents Yal and Adi Alexander urged US President Donald Trump to ‘secure a deal’ as each moment their son is being held hostage by Hamas was ‘growing more unbearable’, the Times reports.
Edan Alexander (pictured) was a soldier in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian terrorists during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, published the more than three-minute clip showing Alexander seated in a small, enclosed space
The destroyed building of Al Ahli Baptist hospital following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, April 13, 2025
The family added in the statement to the forum: ‘Our Edan, a lone soldier who immigrated to Israel and enlisted in the Golani Brigade to defend the country and its citizens, is still being held captive by Hamas.
‘When you sit down to mark Passover, remember that this is not a holiday of freedom as long as Edan and the other 58 hostages are not home.’
Alexander appears to be speaking under duress in the video, making frequent hand gestures as he criticises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for failing to secure his release.
The video was released hours after Defence Minister Israel Katz announced military control of what it called the new ‘Morag axis’ corridor of land between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
Katz also outlined plans to expand Israel’s ongoing offensive across much of the territory.
In a separate statement earlier Saturday, Hamas said Israel’s Gaza operations endangered not only Palestinian civilians but also the remaining hostages.
The offensive not only ‘kills defenceless civilians but also makes the fate of the occupation’s prisoners (hostages) uncertain’, Hamas said.
During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants took 251 hostages.
Yael Alexander, center in grey scarf, holds a poster of her son Edan during a rally in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025 for the families and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza
Alexander is thought to be the last living American hostage. He appeared in a Hamas propaganda video in November 2024 (pictured)
Fifty-eight hostages remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
During a recent ceasefire that ended on March 18 when Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza, militants released 33 hostages, among them eight bodies.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Gaza’s health ministry said Saturday at least 1,563 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,933.
