Herzog to family of hostage Edan Alexander: Deal negotiations taking place ‘behind the scenes’

It is time for a deal to bring the hostages home, President Isaac Herzog and first lady Michal Herzog tell the family of Edan Alexander, the American-Israeli hostage who was featured in a video released by Hamas yesterday.

“Now, with an agreement reached regarding the northern border with Lebanon, it is time to finalize a deal and bring the hostages home” from Gaza, says the president, according to his office. “We are negotiating with a bitter and cruel enemy whose sole purpose in releasing this video was to try to break our spirit. On the contrary — I believe this video has strengthened us.”

Negotiations are taking place “behind the scenes,” says Herzog.

“Now is the opportunity to bring about a meaningful change that will lead to a deal to free the hostages.”

“This has been a sleepless night,” says Yael, Edan’s mother. “Edan — his voice and the video replaying endlessly. You can see in the video that Edan is going through hell. His eyes are crying out, full of sorrow, but it gave me so much strength. Edan strengthened us with his call to us.

“We released this video so that everyone can see — Edan is alive, and many other hostages are alive. It’s time to act and free them.”