Adi Alexander, father of freed hostage Edan Alexander, has revealed harrowing new details about his son’s captivity in Gaza..
Adi Alexander, father of recently released hostage Edan Alexander, has shared chilling new information about his son’s ordeal while held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Channel 12 News, Adi described how Edan was forced to conceal his identity while imprisoned in a Hamas-run facility that housed dozens of hostages. “They put a ski mask with a green ribbon on him, and he walked between the cells, serving and clearing plates,” Adi said. “The other hostages didn’t even know who he was.”
In the early days of captivity, the facility where Edan was held turned into an operational Hamas base. Alongside Edan were hostages from Nir Oz and several Thai workers. With dozens needing food, sanitation, and basic care, Edan stepped in to help. “He volunteered to look after the Thai crew,” Adi explained, “partly because they struggled to communicate with Hamas.”
On April 14, the Israeli Air Force targeted a Hamas compound guarding the tunnel where Edan was being held, according to a Ynet report. The strike caused part of the tunnel to collapse. Edan sustained injuries to his shoulder and hands while trying to free himself from the rubble.
In debriefings and conversations with family members, Edan described the blasts as feeling like an “earthquake.” He recalled the moment of the explosion: “Suddenly, I felt like someone had detonated C-4 explosives near one of the pressure doors.” A second explosion caused the ceiling to cave in, and falling debris injured his shoulder — an injury from which he is still recovering.
Trapped in the collapsed tunnel, Edan began digging with his bare hands to escape. “The wounds on his hands,” Adi noted, “came from clawing his way out. He told us, ‘We dug ourselves out before everything fell in on us.’”
