- The father of Edan Alexander, the last American hostage being held in Gaza, says President Trump's unorthodox approach to the Middle East conflict has paid dividends. Under Biden, negotiation deadlines were never implemented and no hostages were released. But under Trump, "the fact that he took ownership on this deal, it was crucial as well. He’s been tough with the friends and with the enemies even before he took office, that was crucial.”
President Trump’s insistence that Hamas agree to a ceasefire in January and hand back hostages in February or “all bets are off, and let hell break out” did, in fact, speed up the release of hostages, according to the father of the only remaining American hostage still being held in Gaza. By contrast, negotiations with Hamas during the Biden administration were frustrated by deadlines that came and went, unenforced by either the U.S. or Israel, Adi Alexander told Fortune.
Trump indicated his impatience with Hamas and Israel again Wednesday, in a post on Truth Social: “I'm very disappointed ... four bodies came in today ... We got a lot of hostages back, but it's very sad what happened to those people ... This is a vicious group of people, and Israel's going to have to decide what they're doing,” the president wrote.
Adi Alexander’s son, Edan—who grew up in Maryland and New Jersey but was captured on the border of Gaza during Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023—is one of 22 living hostages still held by Hamas, Alexander told Fortune. Hamas was holding an additional 37 bodies of hostages who died in captivity, Alexander said on the day he talked to Fortune. Two hundred and fifty one hostages were taken in 2023.
The initial framework for a deal to release the hostages was struck in December 2023, Alexander said, but then the process got bogged down in a series of inexplicable delays.
“First of all, saying that the deadline for the deal is January 20th — that was a good thing [for Trump] to say. Nobody in the past, never used any deadlines ... never, it was all flexible,” Alexander said. “That was crucial. My personal opinion, the fact that he took ownership on this deal, it was crucial as well. He’s been tough with the friends and with the enemies even before he took office, that was crucial.”
Under the Biden administration, deadlines in the negotiations were never implemented, Alexander said. He doesn't know why.
“We asked this question of the old administration all the time. Why there is no deadlines? We ask for the deadlines, it was a lot of deadlines, and Netanyahu's visit in Congress, Ramadan deadline — it was a lot of deadlines. And they were never used. I mean, it just took too long and the fact of the matter is that it's the same deal that was constructed back in the end of 2023. It wasn't something new. It was the same one. So that was frustrating, but it happened.”
Although Edan Alexander has yet to be released, his father gave credit to both the Biden and Trump administrations for working diligently to free the hostages. “We had access on the highest level, to the U.S. government. We met with [national security advisor] Jake Sullivan 22 times in person. We met with President Biden four times. We met with the vice president two times. We met with [deputy assistant to the president] Brett McGurk,” he said. The transition to Trump was a smooth one for the hostage families, he said. “We’re getting attention, a lot of attention.”
That is in marked contrast to Israel's response in the early days of the conflict, after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, surprise attack, he said.
"In the beginning, the Israeli government, they were all over the place. They were in shock, complete shock, non-functioning, complete bankruptcy, let's call it this way. But now, I feel like things are better. Mainly we are in touch — since Edan was an IDF Soldier — in touch with army representatives, so these these people are really good. In regards of the rest of the government, we do have some communication but not on the level that we have with the U.S. government,” he said.
Alexander feels Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not handled the crisis well. Netanyahu did not prioritize the hostages at the start, he said. “That wasn't his priority at the beginning. He had a few priorities prior to the hostages. … The priority at the beginning was, defeating Hamas, taking revenge, and keeping his job,” he said.
Edan has been gone more than 500 days but his father says other hostages who have been released have seen him inside Hamas’s vast network of underground tunnels, where many of the captives were held together. How is he handling the stress? “There are sleepless nights but you have to stay strong. You have to go on autopilot, go to the gym, go to work, do the interviews, do the meetings, talk about it and, just move forward with that. The autopilot is working. As a human being you all of a sudden can discover things about yourself that you never knew.”
“The main thing is we do have a ceasefire which is very important. The guns are quiet. That was very important for us and the talks are ongoing. It's not easy. We're dealing with a tough opponent but it's moving forward.”
