Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warmly welcomed US-Israeli IDF soldier Edan Alexander in a Hebrew-language phone conversation Tuesday morning, following his release from Hamas captivity in Gaza the night before.
Alexander, a Golani Brigade fighter held for 584 days by Hamas terrorists, was born in Israel and grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, eventually returning to Israel to enlist in the IDF.
He was taken to Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Ichilov Medical Center for physical and psychological care following his ordeal.
“Edan, it is so good to hear from you. We are overjoyed. Your mother and father are overjoyed, as are the people of Israel. I want you to know this. This is simply a wonderful moment. How do you feel?’” Netanyahu asked.
“This is crazy. It is unbelievable. I am fine; weak, but we will slowly return to what we were before. It is all a matter of time,” Alexander replied.
“Your mother and father are with you now? Then, first of all, hug them because the entire people of Israel are embracing the three of you. There is the whole family, grandfather and grandmother. Today everyone is one family,” the prime minister said.
“I have one more request of you, only one directive,” Netanyahu added. “Aside from the fact that you are a free man, listen to what the doctors say, because we have amazing care and teams. It really sounds to me that you are on the right path. Welcome home from all my heart, truly from all my heart. You have blessings from the people of Israel.”
Netanyahu also spoke, in English, with US envoy Steve Witkoff who was in the room with Alexander at the time.
Witkoff to Netanyahu: ‘You Made Edan’s Release Possible’
“You have one brave Israeli soldier there who is also a champion of America and Israel together, and we’re very, very happy and very grateful for the help that you and President Trump gave us,” Netanyahu told Witkoff.
“And we, of course, value his comrades, the Israeli soldiers who are there ready to take whatever action if our other friends, our other hostages, are not released. It’s a great moment. Thank you,” the prime minister added.
“Mr. Prime Minister, I’ve told Edan and his family everything that you have done to make this possible over the last several days,” Witkoff told Netanyahu.
“It was a tense negotiation, and it was critical. How you were, how you allowed the negotiations to operate, and that’s in large part the reason that Edan is home with his family today.”
Details of Torture Slowly Emerging
Details of Alexander’s captivity with Hamas are slowly beginning to be released.
A few hours after his return to Israel Monday night, Israel’s KAN News public broadcaster reported that the soldier endured severe torture at the hands of his captors during lengthy interrogations and psychological terror as well.
Held in a tunnel dozens of feet underground, Alexander was starved and kept in a cage, with hands and feet shackled, for long periods of time.
Trump invited Alexander and his family to meet with him Wednesday in Doha. The president is currently in Riyadh on the first stop of his three-nation visit to the region (he is also scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates).
Alexander’s health is too precarious for him to leave the hospital at this time; however, instead, he will speak with the president by phone and visit with Trump later at the White House instead, Israeli media reported.
Witkoff Warns Hostage Families of ‘Need to Unite as a Society’
Meanwhile, Witkoff and US Hostage Envoy Adam Boehler are set to fly from Israel to Qatar later in the day to join the hostage release negotiations taking place in Doha.
“If we did not believe there was a chance of progress in the negotiations we would not have gone to Doha,” Witkoff said during a subsequent meeting with members of the Hostages Family forum. “President Trump will not agree to accept anything except the release of all the hostages.”
But Witkoff also had a warning for the hostage families: “When you fight among yourselves and fall apart as a society, you know who is watching? Hamas. And so, there is a need to unite as a society,” he underscored.
“I’ve seen intelligence that shows me it hurts you when you are not united as a society.”
