NJ man held hostage by Hamas for 500 days still not free

✅ Edan Alexander was serving with the IDF when he was taken hostage in 2023

✅ The only proof he is still alive was a video released in December by Hamas

✅ He is supposed to be part of the second phase of releases

After 500 days in captivity, New Jersey's Edan Alexander may be home soon.

The 21-year-old from Tenafly,  held hostage by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023, should be released in the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire agreement, according to the Jersusalem Post.

His release hinges on Israeli negotiations to free the remaining 60 hostages. The terms of the current cease-fire requires a full withdrawl of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Another three hostages will likely be released on Saturday per the cease-fire agreement but their identities were not disclosed.

Alexander's father told the Post that his family has had no communication from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The families of the remaining 60 hostages sent Netanyahu a letter asking for clarification about his comments that there had been no progress in the second phase of negotiations.

The Alexander family has been talking to President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

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Release hinges on resumption of negotiations

On Thursday, Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children.

Hamas has said it won't release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he is committed to destroying Hamas' military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.

The NJ Israel Commission said that Alexander has been held hostage for 500 days as of this week and has not had any visits from any international humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, the WHO, ICRC, MSF/DWB, Amnesty International, or Human Rights Watch.

Commission co-chairman Mark Levenson said that Edan needs to be brought home as soon as possible.

"The testimony bravely provided by recovered hostages shows that Edan and his fellow captives are constantly subjected to the most horrific violence, sexual assault, starvation, and psychological torture. Every single day that the United States does not demand of our negotiating partners the immediate release of our people from the clutches of the terrorists, puts the lives of every hostage in danger, including the American citizens who were stolen on October 7," Levenson said.

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