“Edan! Edan! Edan!” chanted thousands of supporters as former hostage Edan Alexander returned home to Tenafly, N.J., on June 19, after nearly 600 days in Hamas captivity.
Wearing dark sunglasses, the 21-year-old rolled through the streets in an SUV as people wrapped themselves in Israeli flags and gave him scores of high-fives, according to the New York Post, who Alexander told he was feeling “great.”
“Today is a huge day worthy of great celebration across our state! After 584 days at the hands of Hamas terrorists, Jersey native, Tenafly resident, and my constituent, Edan Alexander, is finally home with his family and friends,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who is Jewish, said in a statement.
“Through it all, the strength of the Alexander family has been a guiding light for all of us in an incredibly dark period,” the congressman stated. “But they never gave up hope — and neither did we.”
“Edan’s return is a reminder that we must not rest until every last hostage is reunited with their families and loved ones,” Gottheimer continued. “That includes the return of the remains of the two Americans who were brutally murdered at the hands of Hamas—Omer Neutra and Itay Chen.”
The Israeli Consulate in New York wrote that Alexander’s “return stands as a powerful reminder that we must not rest until every last hostage is reunited with their loved ones.”
Alexander, an Israel Defense Forces staff sergeant, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the terror group’s attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and was released in May during a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He is the last living American hostage to be released and was the first male IDF soldier to be released.
