Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Sunday with the family of Eitan Mor, a 23-year-old Israeli kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.
Netanyahu, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, updated the family on efforts to bring home the hostages and emphasized that operations “are continuing even at this very moment.”
In a separate call, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir spoke with the parents of Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old Israeli-American soldier from Tenafly, N.J., who is also being held in Gaza. Alexander, a lone soldier (one without close family who can help him), was abducted in uniform from his post near Kibbutz Nirim during the Hamas-led invasion.
On Saturday night, Hamas released a three-minute propaganda video showing Alexander and indicating he has been in captivity for 551 days, suggesting the footage was recorded last Wednesday. His family did not authorize the release or distribution of the video.
“Our Edan, a lone soldier who immigrated to Israel and enlisted in the Golani Brigade to defend the country and its citizens, is still being held captive by Hamas,” the family said in a statement on Saturday. “So, when you sit down to mark Passover, remember that this is not a holiday of freedom as long as Edan and the other 58 hostages are not home.”
Alexander is believed to be the only one of five remaining American hostages still alive. In March, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that former hostages had informed Alexander’s family that he had been held in a Hamas tunnel for more than 500 days, during which he was tortured, kept in chains, and appeared severely malnourished. A similar video released by Hamas in November was described by Netanyahu at the time as “cruel psychological warfare.”
In his call with the Alexander family, Zamir stressed that the return of the hostages remains an operational and moral imperative for the IDF.
“We are doing everything possible to bring them back,” Zamir said. “As their commander, this is a responsibility I carry with me in every decision I make.”
The Alexander family thanked the chief of staff for the call and for reaffirming the military’s commitment to bringing Edan and the others home.
