‘Home sweet home’: Edan Alexander publishes first social media post since release
Last living hostage with US citizenship posts selfie enjoying beer after 584 days in Hamas captivity
A day after his release from captivity in Gaza, Edan Alexander on Tuesday posted his first Instagram story.
“Home sweet home,” he wrote alongside a photo of him wearing sunglasses and holding a beer bottle.
Alexander, a dual Israeli-American citizen who grew up in New Jersey, was serving in the IDF’s Golani Brigade at the time of his abduction.
Hamas kidnapped him from his base near the Gaza border community of Nirim, known as the White House post, during its October 7, 2023, onslaught.
He was transferred by Hamas fighters to the Red Cross on Thursday evening before he was driven to the border with Israel and handed over to Israeli troops, after 584 days in captivity.
Alexander was the last living hostage in Gaza with US citizenship.
Multiple sources told The Times of Israel on Sunday that Alexander’s release was largely the result of a backchannel operated by a non-governmental individual who passed along messages between Hamas’s leadership and US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff.
Israel wasn’t even notified about the decision to release Alexander until it was finalized, the sources said.
In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributed the captive’s freedom to “military pressure and the diplomatic pressure applied by President [Donald] Trump,” calling it “a winning combination.”
Hamas led thousands of terrorists in an invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others who were taken as hostages to Gaza.
Hamas took 19 male soldiers hostage — not all of them on duty — and seven female surveillance soldiers, the latter of whom have all since been returned to Israel.
Five were released in a deal with Hamas, one was rescued, and the body of one was recovered by troops.
There are 58 hostages, 35 of whom have been confirmed dead, still held in Gaza.
The Times of Israel Community.