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Hamas Claims Lost Contact with Group Holding Hostage Following Israeli Airstrike
Hamas has announced it can no longer communicate with the fighters who are detaining Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier, after an Israeli airstrike targeted their location in Gaza.
Edan Alexander has recently appeared in videos shared by Hamas. In these communications, he has made pleas for assistance regarding his release. Israel had requested that Alexander be freed on the first day of a newly proposed 45-day ceasefire, which Hamas has rejected.
The specifics regarding when contact with the hostage was lost have not been provided by Hamas, nor have they offered any evidence to back their claims. The Israeli government, for its part, maintains that it aims to avoid operations that might jeopardize hostages’ lives.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas, stated, “We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location,” adding that efforts are ongoing to regain that contact.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the October 7 attack by Hamas, current estimates suggest that 59 remain captive in Gaza, with 24 thought to be alive. Among these hostages, five are believed to be U.S. citizens, with Alexander regarded as the only one still thought to be alive.
In a new video released later on Tuesday, Hamas issued a warning to the families of the remaining captives, threatening that they would return in coffins if the military operations in Gaza continued. This follows a video shared on Saturday where Alexander, appearing under duress, called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former U.S. President Donald Trump to advocate for his release.
Alexander was part of Israel’s proposed ceasefire that aimed for the release of half of the hostages within the first week of the agreement, according to a Hamas official. This proposal particularly emphasized Alexander’s release on the initial day as a sign of goodwill.
In a previous ceasefire earlier this year, 33 hostages were liberated in exchange for 1,900 Palestinian detainees, allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. However, talks for a subsequent phase of this arrangement collapsed, leading to a renewed Israeli military offensive that began on March 18.
Born in Tel Aviv but raised in New Jersey, Alexander was serving in an elite infantry unit along the Gaza border when he was captured. His father, Adi Alexander, expressed concerns over the government’s strategy during an interview, questioning how hostages would be secured without ending the conflict or fully committing to the proposed deal.
Hamas has signaled its willingness to release all captives in exchange for a total cessation of hostilities and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. However, they firmly rejected Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal, which included demands for Hamas’s disarmament without guarantees of an end to military actions or withdrawal from Gaza.
A senior Palestinian official informed the BBC that the Israeli ceasefire proposal, conveyed through Egyptian intermediaries, explicitly required the disarmament of Hamas, making no commitments to halt the war or withdraw troops. Consequently, Hamas dismissed the initiative entirely.
Since the resumption of Israeli military operations, the reported death toll in Gaza has risen to 1,630, contributing to an overall total of 51,000 casualties over the past 18 months of conflict. The violence escalated after the October 7 attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 individuals and the abduction of 251 hostages.
Source
www.bbc.com