Edan Alexander, 21, the last living U.S. citizen held by Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza, returned to Israel on Monday, amid tears, laughter, and embraces from his family, who flew from America to greet him.
The hostage, who holds the rank of Staff Sergeant in the IDF’s elite Golani brigade, was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, by Hamas during its brutal terror attack against Israel, which killed 1200 people.
During that time, he was reportedly tortured and kept handcuffed inside a cage, near other hostages.
The Red Cross, which has an international legal obligation to visit prisoners of war, never visited him.
However, the Red Cross managed the handover from Hamas on Monday, as it has with other hostages.
IDF Staff Sergeant Edan Alexander, the last U.S. citizen held as a hostage by Hamas in Gaza, is transferred from the Red Cross to the IDF while still in Gaza. May 12, 2025. (IDF Spokesperson)
Alexander was welcomed by fellow IDF soldiers and escorted back into Israel, where he was met by family and friends, as well as Israeli hostage negotiator Gal Hirsch and U.S. hostage negotiator Adam Boehler.
On a helicopter to a hospital, he held a whiteboard, on which he had written: “Thank you President Trump!” He also wrote, in Hebrew, “Am Yisrael Chai” (The Nation of Israel Lives), and the name of his IDF unit.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was also present.
Israel’s Army Radio discussed the possibility that Alexander might fly to Qatar to meet visiting U.S. President Donald Trump this week, if his health allowed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited President Donald Trump’s diplomacy, and relentless IDF military pressure, for Alexander’s release, which came without explicit conditions. There are still thought to be at least 20, and perhaps 23, living hostages, among 50 total remaining in Gaza. Trump will visit several Arab states in the region later this week, amid efforts to forge regional agreements and broader peace deals.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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