On November 30, Hamas released a propaganda video showing Edan Alexander, one of the American-Israeli hostages held since October 7, 2023. His family gave Israeli media permission to publish the three-and-a-half-minute video. In it, Edan states that he has been a hostage for 420 days, suggesting that the video was filmed last week — that he is, in fact, alive. As for the messages he conveys, there can be little doubt that what Edan says in the video is what he was told to say by his captors.

Edan, 20, was born in Israel and grew up in Tenafly, N.J. After high school, he went to Israel as a special kind of volunteer, called a “lone soldier,” for the Israel Defense Forces. These volunteers are young men and women from other countries who travel to Israel alone, without their parents, to serve in its army out of solidarity with the Jewish state and the Jewish people. On October 7, Edan was stationed near the Gaza border when he was taken captive.

Imagine what Edan’s family is going through: intense relief to see him alive, agony at the suffering he’s enduring, unspeakable fear that he could yet be murdered — like Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the young American-Israeli executed along with five other Israeli hostages by Hamas in August, as the IDF was closing in on their location in a tunnel under Rafah.

Omer Neutra, 22, was another of the American-Israeli hostages believed to be alive. As reported by the Times of Israel, the IDF, based on new intelligence, has determined that Omer was in fact killed on October 7 and that his body is being held in Gaza. Like Edan, Omer was a lone soldier — he was taking a gap year in Israel after high school in his hometown of Plainview, N.Y. He was stationed on the Gaza border, where he was serving as a tank commander. Omer’s parents, who spoke at the Republican National Convention last summer, have spent nearly 14 months believing that their son was suffering in a Gaza tunnel — but alive. Imagine what they went through when they were told their boy, whom the IDF had reason to believe had survived the October 7 attack, is dead.

Among some 250 hostages taken by Hamas, seven held American citizenship. As of now, four are known to have been murdered. On October 7: Omer; Judih Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai, a couple in their 70s; and Itay Chen, 19. In August: Hersh.

As of now, three are believed to be alive: Edan. Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36. Keith Siegel, 65.

Pray for them, and for all the hostages.