Tel AVIV (AP) – Unlike many families who accuse Israel of not releasing the Israeli government from Gaza prisoners, Adi Alexander is hesitant to point his fingers. The last living American father, practical and measured, is being held hostage by Hamas.
“I don’t want to get into the eggs and chicken,” Alexander told The Associated Press on Friday from his New Jersey home. Still, he wonders whether Israel can secure freedom for his son, as the once promising ceasefires gives way to a new battle between Israel and Hamas.
Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the United States, is one of the 59 hostages still in Gaza, with more than half of them being dead. Last week, Hamas said the bodies of Edan and four other hostages would be released if Israel recommended a stalled ceasefire agreement.
However, a few days later, Israel launched a rocket across Gaza, breaking a two-month contract and killing hundreds of Palestinians. Hostilities show no signs of decline, pledging Israel to move deeper into Gaza on Friday, until Hamas releases the remaining hostages.
Return to battle inflamed Israeli debates about the fate of those who were taken prisoner. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under domestic pressure following massive protests over handling of the hostage crisis. However, he also faces demands from his hard-hitting allies to not accept a deal that is far from destroying Hamas.
Father’s hope
Addi Alexander believes Netanyahu wants to bring everyone home, but on his own terms. He questioned Netanyahu’s plans, but believes President Donald Trump’s message is clear. He focuses on bringing hostages into the house. Alexander said he relies on the United States to close the big gap between Israel and Hamas. His message to Trump about his administration’s efforts to free his son and others: “Just keep up with this job.”
Many families of hostages say Trump has done more for them than Netanyahu and believe in the president in a ceasefire. In December, Trump called for the immediate release of hostages before taking office, saying that if he is not released before being swears for a second term, he will have a “hell payment.”
The first phase of the contract began a few weeks later, with 25 Israeli hostages and eight other bodies being released in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire should have remained as long as the talks in the second phase continued, but Netanyahu balked to enter into substantive negotiations.
Instead, he attempted to force Hamas to accept the new ceasefire plan presented by US Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkov. The plan would have demanded that Hamas release half of the remaining hostages (the main negotiation tip of extremist groups) in exchange for his promise to negotiate an extension of the ceasefire and a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas says it will release only the remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as sought by the original US, Egypt and Qatar-borne ceasefire agreement.
The US is directly involved with Hamas
As a soldier, Edan would have been released in the second phase of the deal. However, Hamas announced this month that it will release Edan after the White House said it had been engaged in “ongoing lectures and discussions” with the group. It is the first known direct involvement between Hamas and the United States since the State Department designated it as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Addy Alexander said Adam Berler, who spearheads the Trump administration’s efforts to release hostages, is leading those individual consultations as Phase 2 has stopped. However, he said Hamas did not believe the claim that his son would come out of the left field and release his son because it was not considered as part of the discussion between the group and the bowler.
The uneasy father said he spoke with Witkov and Borer almost every day, and understood that negotiations were ongoing despite the resumption of the fight.
Edan, a native of Tenafly, a suburb of New Jersey in New York City, moved to Israel in 2022 after high school and joined the military. He was accused of his base on October 7, 2023, and launched the war-firing attack when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 others hostage.
A tough wait
There has been little news about him since Edan’s aiding.
Hamas released his video over Thanksgiving weekend in November. His family said it was difficult to see when he wept and pleaded for help, but it was Ahrelief to see him alive.
According to his father, the released hostages gave the family more news. Some said Edan lost a lot of weight. Others said he was a defender of fellow hostages and would stand up for the kid Thai workers and tell their prisoners that the workers should be released, not Israeli.
He knows the battle will resume, but it means it will take longer to get his son back, but Addi Alexander said that both sides are more comfortable with the ceasefire and that this is one of the reasons Phase 2 has never started. He hopes the war is over, and he hopes that combat will be restricted, targeted and pushed everyone back to the table.
“Someone, I think I had to shake this tree and create confusion, and chaos creates opportunities,” he said. “The only purpose is to go back to the negotiation table and kick those people out.”
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