New Delhi:
The Palestinian organization Hamas released a video on Saturday featuring Israeli-American hostage Yidan Alexander. Alexander, held in Gaza since the devastating attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, directly addressed US President-elect Donald Trump in English and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Hebrew, calling for intervention. He urged Israelis to put pressure on the Israeli government to release the hostages.
The video, released by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has not been independently verified for authenticity or dating. Yidan’s mother, Yael Alexander, spoke at a rally in Tel Aviv that evening.
“This video upset me, but beyond the hope it gives us, it shows how bad the situation is for Yidan and the other hostages, and how much they are crying out now, hoping they will be saved. “It shows us what’s going on,” she declared.
The family of Yidan Alexander, an Israeli-American hostage taken in Gaza, has authorized the release of a heartbreaking survival video released by terrorists earlier today. pic.twitter.com/pYp8vttt8t
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 30, 2024
She said she spoke directly to Prime Minister Netanyahu and asked him to keep his promise to secure the release of the hostages. “We must keep our promise and free them. This state is strong enough to end the war and bring them all back, including my Yidan,” she said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later confirmed the conversation and reiterated that Israel remains steadfast in its determination to bring back all hostages. The prime minister described the video as “brutal psychological warfare” and said such tactics would not deter Israel from its mission.
The Hostage Families Forum, an advocacy group for prisoners of war, agreed, saying a negotiated agreement was the only viable solution for hostage return. “One year after the first and only deal, it is clear to all that the return of the hostages can only be achieved through a deal,” the group said in a statement.
The October 7 attack killed 1,207 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped 251 hostages. Approximately 97 hostages remain in Gaza, and although 34 of them have been confirmed dead, their bodies have not been returned. A brief ceasefire in November 2023 resulted in the release of 80 Israeli hostages and 25 mostly Thai prisoners in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. However, efforts to broker further exchanges or a ceasefire since then have largely stalled.
Israel’s military response has claimed 44,382 lives in the Gaza Strip, according to statistics from the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
