GAZA: The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas says it has lost contact with a group holding Israeli-US captive Edan Alexander in the Gaza Strip after “direct Israeli bombardment” targeted the area where he was being held.
“It seems that the occupation army is deliberately trying to kill him and hence relieve themselves from the pressure caused by the dual-citizen prisoners in order to continue its genocide against our people,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, said on Tuesday.
On Saturday, Hamas had released a video showing Alexander – a New Jersey native and a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli army – alive.
Alexander appeared to be under duress in the video and appealed to US President Donald Trump to get him out of Gaza and urged the US president not to believe “lies” told by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In his latest statement, Abu Obeida did not say where Alexander was being held in Gaza. The group’s armed wing later released a video warning families of the captives that their “children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart from shrapnel from your army”.
Hamas has previously blamed Israelfor the deaths of captives held in Gaza, including as a direct result of bombardment, while also acknowledging on at least one occasion that a captive was killed by a guard. It said the guard had acted against instructions.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters at the White House in March that securing the release of Alexander, believed to be the last living US hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, was a “top priority for us”.
The potential release of Alexander was at the centre of earlier talksheld between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
