Adi Alexander calls on the Trump administration to hold direct negotiations with Hamas for release of the hostages and sends a message to his son: ‘No one has forgotten you, we are fighting for your release.’
Adi Alexander, father of abducted soldier Edan Alexander, expressed hope that his son is still alive, despite 562 days in Hamas captivity.
In an interview with Reuters, Alexander appealed to the US government, calling on it to take active steps to hold direct talks with Hamas, in order to bring about the release of all 59 hostages, both living and dead.
“I think we need to go back to talking to them directly and see what we can do about my son, the four dead US hostages and everyone else,” said the frantic father, whose son is also a US citizen. “It seems that the negotiations are stuck, everything is stuck, and we have taken step backwards to about a year ago. It’s very worrying.”
Alexander also referred to the video published by Hamas about a week ago, showing first signs of life of Edan. According to Alexander, the video left a harsh impression on him: “It seemed very scary to us – just a terrible video.”
In a direct address to his hostage son, Alexander said in pain: “Just believe. You know, no one has forgotten you. Certainly not your parents, and everyone at the highest level in the US and Israel are fighting for your release.”
These remarks come against the backdrop of conflicting reports regarding Edan’s situation and the progress of negotiations for the release of the hostages. On Wednesday, the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that the mediation team had received inquiries from Washington about Alexander’s fate, and that members of US envoy Steve Witkoff’s team had contacted security officials in Egypt in an attempt to obtain information about his condition.
A day earlier, Hamas issued a statement saying that contact with the terrorists holding Edan Alexander had been lost as a result of the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip.
