{"id":25537,"date":"2025-05-13T23:20:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T23:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/edan-alexanders-family-describes-his-battle-between-hope-and-despair-leading-up-to-release\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T23:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T23:20:24","slug":"edan-alexanders-family-describes-his-battle-between-hope-and-despair-leading-up-to-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/edan-alexanders-family-describes-his-battle-between-hope-and-despair-leading-up-to-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Edan Alexander&#8217;s family describes his &#8220;battle between hope and despair&#8221; leading up to release"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>For the first time since the release Monday from Gaza of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander&#8217;s <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/edan-alexander-us-israeli-hostage-released-hamas-after-more-than-19-months-captivity\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">by the militant group Hamas<\/a><\/span>, his family spoke publicly about what their emotional reunion was like, and what their son went through.<\/p>\n<p>In a news conference Tuesday from the hospital in Tel Aviv where her son is recovering, Yael Alexander said the moment she embraced him &#8220;time stood still,&#8221; adding, &#8220;My heartbeat returned in sync with his.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, she also shared that during his more than 580 days in captivity, &#8220;Every minute was a battle between hope and despair.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She said the reunion was also met with the pain of learning that her son faced &#8220;daily fear, hunger, the lack of water and appalling sanitary conditions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While being held in underground tunnels, Edan Alexander heard deafening explosions, the whistles of missiles, and felt the earth shaking, she said.<\/p>\n<h2>Alexanders call for the release of the remaining hostages<\/h2>\n<p>At the news conference, Yael Alexander said it was important to bring home the remaining hostages. The extended Alexander family held up photos of those still being held captive.<\/p>\n<p>Yael and her husband, Adi Alexander, thanked President Trump, who Edan Alexander spoke with by phone on Monday. Neither of them thanked Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Soon, Edan will be home in the United States, in New Jersey, watching his little brother play basketball, reuniting with his friends in New Jersey. He&#8217;s 21 now, and those happy kinds may include a beer, too, but we will never forget the first beer he had on the rooftop of this very building since his release,&#8221; Adi Alexander said.<\/p>\n<h2>Edan Alexander takes to social media for first time<\/h2>\n<p>Edan Alexander on Tuesday created his first Instagram post of that moment, titling it, &#8220;Home sweet home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He was wearing a Star of David, a necklace given to him by Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. It belonged to Witkoff&#8217;s late son, Andrew.<\/p>\n<p>Witkoff&#8217;s son, Alex, posted on X that Edan is &#8220;a true warrior and the necklace is a powerful reminder of his strength, survival, and pride in his Jewish heritage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear when Alexander will return to the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Alexander grew up in New Jersey before moving to Israel. He was serving in the Israeli military on Oct. 7, 2023, when he was abducted during Hamas&#8217; assault\u00a0on Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation \">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">More from CBS News<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>    <!-- tags --><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-author\">\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/Lisa-Rozner\/\" class=\"content-author__name\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Lisa  Rozner<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-author__bio\">\n<div class=\"content-author__full-information\">\n<p class=\"content-author__text\">Lisa Rozner joined CBS News New York in 2017. She covers a wide range of stories.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/edan-alexander-hamas-hostage-released-tenafly-new-jersey\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time since the release Monday from Gaza of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander&#8217;s by the militant group Hamas,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[89,94,99,544],"class_list":["post-25537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-gaza-strip","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-middle-east"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Edan Alexander&#039;s family describes his &quot;battle between hope and despair&quot; leading up to release - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the first time since American-Israeli Edan Alexander&amp;#039;s release by Hamas&#8203;, his family is speaking publicly about what their son went through.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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