In Hamas propaganda video, hostage Edan Alexander pleads with Trump to push for deal

The Hamas terror group on Saturday released a propaganda video showing signs of life from hostage Edan Alexander, 20, in the first video of its kind in months.

Alexander’s family permitted the video to be published in Israeli media.

The three-and-a-half-minute-long video was not dated, though Alexander states that he has been held for over 420 days. If true, it would have been filmed this week.

Alexander, a dual US citizen, is a soldier who was stationed near the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7 when he was taken captive by Hamas, along with 250 other hostages. Hamas killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during that attack, which sparked the ongoing war that the Israeli military is fighting against Hamas in Gaza.

Alexander was born in Tel Aviv, grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, and joined Golani as a lone soldier after graduating from high school in 2022.

Related: Grandmother of US-Israeli held in Gaza urges Biden, Trump to cooperate on hostage deal

In the clip, a gaunt-looking Alexander identifies himself and calls on the Israeli government to bring him home. In the second half of the video, Alexander speaks in English and calls on the incoming Trump administration to work for his release.

Alexander, speaking directly to Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, said he is “disappointed” that the government has “neglected” the hostages who remain in captivity.

“Do not neglect us. We want to return home,” he added. “Fear and isolation is killing us. Do not forget us.”

“It is unreasonable that we pay the price for a mistake made by the government,” said Alexander, and called on Israelis to “go out and demonstrate every day and pressure the government.”

Speaking in English to US President-elect Donald Trump, Alexander asked that he “use your influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom.”

“Please don’t make the same mistake [US President Joe] Biden has been making. The weapons he has sent are now killing us, the unlawful siege is now starving us,” he added.

“I do not want to end up dead like my fellow US citizen Hersh [Goldberg-Polin],” he said.

Speaking to his family, Alexander said that “every day that passes, the pain increases.”

“I miss you very much, Every day, I pray to see you soon. Please be strong, its only a matter of time before this nightmare ends,” he concluded.

Following the video’s publication, the White House put out a statement saying that the administration had been in touch with Alexander’s family and that the clip was “a cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own.”

“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. It has refused to do so, but as the President said last week, we have a critical opportunity to conclude the deal to release the hostages, stop the war, and surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement.

“This deal is on the table now. President Biden and the United States will 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,” he added.

“On behalf of the Alexanders and all the families of the hostages still being held by Hamas, we will never cease in our efforts to secure their immediate release,” Savett says.

Following the release of the video, Edan’s mother Yael Alexander spoke at a rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square Saturday evening, telling the crowd that Netanyahu promised her in a phone call an hour before the rally that “the conditions are ripe” to bring the hostages home.

“This is not a Hollywood movie,” she said. “This is a bad dream we have been living for 421 days since October 7.”

After 421 days “without hearing my Edan,” she said, “the clip we received this afternoon shook me and my family. Along with the hope it gives us, it also shows how hard the conditions are for Edan and the other hostages. And how they are shouting and pleading that we save them. Now.”

Yael said her son “speaks for all the living hostages who cannot make their voices heard. And this voice must echo and shake everybody.”

“My beloved Edan,” she said, addressing him directly, “I want to tell you that after your plea, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called me an hour ago, gave me strength, and promised me that now, after there is an arrangement in Lebanon, the conditions are ripe to free you all and bring you all back home.”

She added: “Edan, that is also the will of the people. The people are with you and understand that total victory is [the return of you all].”

Alexander then urged Netanyahu, “in my name and that of my family and of all of Israel… to fulfill your promise to me. Because all eyes are now on you, hoping that you will make the courageous decision. And especially that you be strong in the face of those in your government who oppose a deal, because most of the people support you,” she said, in an apparent reference to far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

“Be strong,” she urged Netanyahu, “like my Edan who has survived there for so long. Be strong.”

Alexander’s parents, Yael and Adi, also released a joint statement on Saturday evening calling on Trump to work with Biden and Netanyahu to secure a hostage deal.

“While this video confirms our son, Edan, is alive, it also stands as a haunting reminder that 101 innocent people remain in the clutches of Hamas,” they said in the joint statement. “Every passing hour dims the prospect of their survival.”

“President-elect Trump must not wait until he is inaugurated to help reach a deal that secures the freedom for Edan, six other Americans, and the rest of the hostages. Their liberation depends on swift, decisive action. Bring them home now, before it’s too late,” they added.

Varda Ben Baruch, the hostage’s grandmother, who is observant, said she didn’t hear about the video of her grandson until after Shabbat ended at sundown.

Paraphrasing Havdala, the prayer recited at the end of Shabbat, she pleaded for her grandson’s safety.

She also addressed Netanyahu: “Be brave. Be strong. Don’t be afraid to do anything that will bring home all the hostages and our Edan.” She then led the crowd in a chant: “A deal — now!”

After the release of the video, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu “spoke this evening with the family of Edan Alexander, who was kidnapped in Gaza by the terrorist organization Hamas. This follows the release of the brutal psychological warfare video in which Edan gave an important and moving sign of life.”

Netanyahu “said in the conversation that he feels very much the anguish that Edan and the hostages and their families are going through, and assured that Israel is working resolutely and in every way to return them home, along with all the hostages who are in the hands of the enemy,” the PMO said.

In a statement accompanying the video of 20-year-old Alexander, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that the footage is “conclusive proof of all the statements and rumors — there are living hostages and they are suffering. A lot. We are their only hope!”

“Hamas will not be defeated for as long as it holds even a single hostage, alive or dead. There will be no revival and there will be no victory until all 101 hostages are returned home,” the forum added.

Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages the terror group is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare. However, the terror group has not published such videos in months.

Most Israeli media outlets do not carry the video clips unless given permission by relatives.

In mid-November, Palestinian Islamic Jihad released multiple propaganda videos showing Israeli-Russian hostage Sasha Trufanov, which his family authorized media outlets to publicize.

In one of the videos, Trufanov described a shortage of food, water, electricity, and basic hygiene products in the Gaza Strip.

Like in several other hostage videos released by terror groups, Trufanov urged citizens to demand the government reach a deal for their release, and said that the Israel Defense Forces operation only puts them in more danger.

Trufanov was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, when Hamas killed or kidnapped 117 of its 400 residents. Trufanov was taken hostage along with three members of his family — grandmother Irena Tati, mother Lena Trufanova, and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen.

It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Four hostages were released before the November deal, eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.