Edan Alexander, the Tenafly, New Jersey, born member of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion who was abducted the morning of October 7 while patrolling near the Gaza Strip, should be released in the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire agreement should Israel vote to continue negotiations.
Hamas released a video of Edan on November 30, 2024, in which he speaks in both Hebrew and Arabic, saying he’s been a prisoner of Hamas for over 420 days.
On December 1, less than 24 hours after learning his son was still alive, Adi Alexander, Edan’s father, told The Jerusalem Post it had been over a year since the Alexander family received any sign of life from their son.
On Wednesday, with looming uncertainty over negotiations resuming, the older Alexander told the Post that his family has not received any proof of life since Hamas’s late November video.
Alexander said he has heard nothing new from Washington since his weekend call with US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, prior to the diplomat’s departure to Riyadh for talks between Russia and Ukraine.
No communication from Netanyahu
“The US government is pushing for everybody’s release,” he said of his conversation with Witkoff.
Alexander said his family has no communication with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his staff, and they mainly communicate with Witkoff and his team.
“We don’t have so much communication with Israel,” he said.
What the Alexanders have learned about Saturday’s upcoming release of the six remaining living hostages included in the first phase has been from the news like everyone else, he said.
“In regards to our case, I have nothing,” he said to the Post, adding he wouldn’t call what’s to come a second phase or phase two.
“I would call it a continuous talk for the release of the hostages,” Alexander said. “I mean, it’s an ongoing situation, ongoing negotiations, okay? It’s all a collective effort to get everybody out, regardless of the stages.”
He said the deal was okay for the time it was constructed, in the back at the end of 2023, but not for now. He hoped negotiations would continue.
In a letter to Netanyahu on Wednesday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded clarification from the prime minister on the “lack of advancement” of negotiations for the second stage of the deal.
“Not implementing phase two means clear and real danger to dozens of living hostages and to the ability to bring the slain hostages to burial in Israel,” the letter said.
On Tuesday night, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem announced a new Hamas proposal that would involve releasing all remaining hostages at once in phase two.
Qassem stated this could be made possible should Israel agree to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
He added that Hamas doubled the number of hostages to be released at the request of mediators, saying they had proven their commitment to honoring the ceasefire.
On Monday, Israel’s security cabinet meeting ended with no vote or decision regarding the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal, granting no authority to the Israeli delegation in Cairo to hold talks on the issue.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.