The White House has condemned a Hamas-issued propaganda video of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander urging president-elect Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a deal to free remaining hostages in Gaza, calling it “a cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own”.
In the video, titled “Soon … Time is running out” and posted on Saturday on the Telegram channel of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, Alexander calls on Trump to use his “influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom”.
Alexander, who has been held by Hamas since 7 October 2023, appears to be under duress as he states that he has been held captive for more than 420 days.
“Please do not make the mistake Biden has been doing,” he says, adding that he does not want to “end up dead like my fellow USA citizen, Hersh”, a reference to American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg Polin, who was killed while being held by Hamas in August.
Alexander’s family authorized the release of the video, which includes footage of the young captive covering his face with his hands and crying.
In a statement, national security council spokesperson Sean Savett said the war in Gaza “would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately – and would have ended months ago – if Hamas agreed to release the hostages”.
The White House statement continued that a hostage deal was currently “on the table” and that President Joe Biden and the US would “continue to work around the clock to secure the release of our citizens, including through diplomatic efforts and by increasing pressure on Hamas terrorists through sanctions, law enforcement actions, and other measures”.
Last week, Biden said there existed “a critical opportunity to conclude the deal to release the hostages, stop the war, and surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza”.
But the video is directed squarely at the president-elect, who held a picture of Alexander while meeting with his parents, Adi and Yael, in New York on the one year anniversary of the Hamas attack.
At an event in Florida later that day, Trump called the attack “one of the darkest days in all of history” before pivoting to blame then presidential rival and vice-president Kamala Harris and Biden for the “weakness” he said gave Hamas confidence to launch the attack.
Yael Alexander told rallygoers at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv on Saturday that she was “shaken by the video” and had spoken with Netanyahu.
She said the Israeli leader had “strengthened me and assured me that now, after the deal in Lebanon, the conditions are ripe to release you and bring you home”, referring to a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon that went into effect on Wednesday.
In the video, Alexander, who grew up in New Jersey and joined the Israeli army after high school, addresses prime minister Netanyahu in Hebrew. “I heard you speaking to the people of Israel on the news, and I am very disappointed. I heard that you will give $5m to whoever brings us back alive. The prime minister is supposed to protect his citizens and soldiers, and you neglected us.”
Alexander continues: “The fear is at its peak, and we are dying a thousand times every day that passes, and no one feels for us. The people of Israel: Do not neglect us. We want to return home with a full mind.”
In a statement released on Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called the video “shocking” and it had provided “definite proof that despite all the rumors there are living hostages, and they are suffering greatly”.
“One year after the first and only deal, it’s clear to everyone: returning the hostages is only possible through a deal. After more than 420 days of continuous abuse, starvation, and darkness, the urgency of bringing home all 101 hostages cannot be overstated,” the statement reads.
Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli prime minister had spoken with Alexander’s family and “really feels the anguish that Edan, the hostages, and their families are going through”.
It added that the prime minister reassured the family that “Israel is working resolutely and in every way possible” to bring about the release of the hostages “who are in the hands of the enemy”.
Separately, the New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, said on X that he joined with the Alexander family “in urging both the Biden administration and incoming Trump administration to do everything possible to quickly facilitate an agreement that brings him home safe”.
