Hamas is claiming they have lost contact with the terrorists holding Edan Alexander captive in Gaza.
“We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location. We are still trying to reach them at this moment,” Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement on Tuesday.
Alexander, a 21-year-old dual Israeli-American citizen serving in an elite IDF infantry unit, was captured during Hamas’s brutal October 7th, 2023 attack. Born in Tel Aviv and raised in New Jersey, he is reportedly the last living American among the five U.S. citizens taken hostage.
Unsurprisingly, Hamas provided no evidence to support its claim, nor did they specify when the alleged strike occurred. Israel has consistently maintained a policy of avoiding operations in areas where hostages are believed to be held.
On Saturday, Hamas released footage showing Alexander alive, in which he pleads with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former President Donald Trump to negotiate his release. His appearance in the propaganda video came as Israel proposed a new 45-day ceasefire that would have prioritized Alexander’s release on the very first day as a “gesture of goodwill.”
However, Hamas swiftly rejected the proposal over Israel’s demand to disarm.
“The Israeli proposal relayed to the movement through Egypt explicitly called for the disarmament of Hamas without any Israeli commitment to end the war or withdraw from Gaza. Hamas therefore rejected the offer in its entirety,” a senior Palestinian official confirmed to the BBC.
A previous two-month ceasefire earlier this year resulted in 33 hostages being freed in exchange for 1,900 dangerous Arab prisoners. When negotiations for a second phase collapsed, Israel resumed its offensive in mid-March to eliminate Hamas and secure the release of the remaining captives. In response, Hamas released a video threatening that the hostages would “return in coffins” if the IDF continued military operations in Gaza.
The Iranian-backed terror group continues to hold 59 of the original 251 hostages taken during their Oct 7 massacre against Israel, with only 24 believed to still be alive.
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