Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Monday with the mothers of Israeli hostages Tamir Nimrodi, Avinatan Or and Eitan Horn, who were abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist invasion.
Netanyahu, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, updated the families on efforts to bring home the hostages and confirmed that intense negotiations are underway. He reiterated his commitment to securing the return of all the hostages, both the living and the dead.
On Sunday, Netanyahu also spoke with the family of Eitan Mor, a 24-year-old taken captive on Oct. 7. The prime minister emphasized that operational efforts to free the captives “are continuing even at this very moment.”
In a separate call, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir spoke with the parents of Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier kidnapped in uniform from a military post near Kibbutz Nirim. Alexander, a lone soldier from Tenafly, N.J., appeared in a Hamas propaganda video released on Saturday night.
Zamir told Alexander’s parents that the hostages’ return remains a top operational and moral priority for the IDF. “We are doing everything possible to bring them back,” he said.
Alexander is believed to be the only remaining American hostage still alive. Former captives have told his family he was held in a Hamas tunnel under dire conditions, including torture and severe malnutrition.