New details have emerged regarding the conditions in which Edan Alexander, the last living Israeli American hostage, was held in Gaza.
By Rachel Avraham
Edan Alexander, who was earlier on released from Hamas captivity, has now revealed additional details about his time in Hamas captivity. The 21-year-old was released this week following more than 19 months of confinement in Gaza tunnels, where he faced physical abuse, prolonged isolation, and injury, Israel Hayom reported.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Alexander told his family that he was moved around Gaza from hiding place to hiding place, at one point travelling through a busy market in a donkey cart alongside a terrorist disguised as a woman. For over a year, he was held in underground tunnels, Hamas safe houses, mosques, schools, and tents used to house displaced Palestinians, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“His whole body has bedbug bites. His skin is in terrible condition. He survived on pitas, rice, and legumes. At some point, a tunnel collapsed on him and injured his shoulder. Entire months without sunlight, without showers, with pain and complete isolation,” Adi Alexander, his father, told The New York Times in an interview following his son’s release.
The father revealed disturbing details about the initial period of captivity, when the captors placed a sack over Edan’s head, Israel Hayom reported. According to the report, he was restrained, beaten, and subjected to interrogations – though these yielded little useful information for Hamas. “He had only been a soldier for ten months. They knew about the arrangement of the IDF much better than he did,” Adi Alexander explained.
According to the Jerusalem Post, he lost approximately 20kg in weight as he was forced to drink seawater and given only dirty bread to eat. According to the report, he described his captivity as “a year of hell.” Yedioth Achronot reported that Israeli airstrikes rattled the tunnels constantly. “It was like an earthquake,” Edan told his parents.
However, Yedioth Achronot reported that the conditions gradually improved. Edan was initially held in a crowded tunnel, but as other hostages were released or died, he had more space. After a ceasefire was declared in mid-January, his captors gave him meat for the first time, Yedioth Achronot noted. Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Edan was moved to another location with access to a television and shower, his father said, according to the report.
The New York Times reported that Edan Alexander grew up in New Jersey, where he was a star athlete on the Tenafly High School swim team. In 2022, during his senior year, he joined Garin Tzabar, a program run by the Israel Scouts that prepares young people from around the world to join the Israel Defense Forces, the New York Times noted. According to the report, he was assigned to the infantry, and he arrived at a small military outpost about two miles from the Gaza border in September 2023, weeks before the Oct. 7 attacks. The New York Times noted that his time as a prisoner left him physically changed, giving him a gaunt appearance. They claim that his skin grew sallow from lack of sunshine and covered in red welts.
Amid all the trauma and suffering, Israel Hayom reported that Adi identified one essential aspect of his son’s personality that remained intact. “He was this goofy, funny guy. He’s still funny. I don’t think he’s a different person. He is simply tired,” his father noted, suggesting that despite everything, the core of who Edan is survived the ordeal.
Photo from NBC News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL5f5DGG2CE
