Palestinian militant group Hamas released a film on Saturday featuring Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old Israeli-American prisoner, pleading for action from US President-elect Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure his discharge.
Alexander pleaded with Israelis to put pressure on their government and demanded that Trump use American influence to communicate his release in Hebrew and English.
The 3-minute videos, released by Hamas’s military aircraft, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, shows Alexander white and seated in a dark room. His first video in a few weeks.
As per Reuters, Alexander’s family Yael described the film as disconcerting but said it highlighted the situation of the victims.
Addressing a rally in Tel Aviv, she said,” The film gives us hope, but it also shows how hard it is for Edan and the other victims, who are crying out for save”. She demanded that Hamas reach a deal with Israel and that the country put an end to the Gaza conflict.
Netanyahu condemned the film as” violent internal war” and reassured Alexander’s family of Israel’s continued efforts to secure the discharge of all victims. According to his office, the prime minister claimed that Israel “promised that it is determined to take every step possible to bring them back house.”
The Victims and Missing People Forum added that “returning the captives is only possible through a deal” as well.
Around half of the 101 Israeli and foreign victims who are believed to be still alive are still in Gaza, according to Reuters. A small peace in November 2023 saw the launch of 80 Israelis and 25 additional victims, generally Thai employees, in exchange for 240 Palestinians detained in Jewish jails.
Hamas frontrunners arrived in Cairo on Saturday to meet with Iranian officials and apparently want to trade hostages for Israeli prisoners.
The White House National Security Council called the video a” violent warning of Hamas’s evil” but noted,” This offer is on the board now”. Sean Savett, a government director, said,” The conflict in Gaza would quit tomorrow if Hamas agreed to transfer the captives”.
Alexander, abducted during the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on southwestern Israel, was among 251 victims taken. Since then, 97 remain in prison, including some confirmed dead whose systems are still in Gaza. Hamas’s latest film follows earlier videos released this month of another Jewish captive, Sasha Trupanov, by the Arab Islamic Jihad party.
The October 7 strike killed 1, 207 people, mostly residents, according to Israeli numbers cited by AFP.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes in Gaza have resulted in around 44, 000 deaths, per the Hamas-run health ministry’s images, considered credible by the United Nations.
