Freed hostage Edan Alexander’s conditions in captivity improved following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump in January, according to a family member.
Alexander’s aunt, Sharon Senyor, told the Ynet news site on Wednesday that “he said that since Trump took power his conditions improved. From the moment they started to talk about him, they gave him more food so that he would gain weight.”
Ynet also reported, citing conversations Alexander had with others since his release on Monday, that following Trump’s inauguration, the freed hostage was moved to a “VIP tunnel” with senior Hamas officials in order to both serve as a human shield and provide him with further protection due to his American citizenship.
This echoes comments Alexander reportedly made during his phone conversation with Trump on Tuesday. According to Channel 12 news, Alexander, when asked by the US president how Hamas had treated him, answered: “Since you got elected, my conditions improved dramatically. There are tons of cameras and people around me right now — I can’t share much at the moment. We’ll talk in private.”
Although reports had circulated that Alexander might fly to Doha on Wednesday to meet with Trump, his family said following his release that he required further medical treatment before leaving the country, and expects to meet the US president in Washington in the future.
Alexander, 21, the last living hostage with American citizenship, was freed from Gaza on Monday, after 584 days in captivity, following indirect talks between the US and Hamas. The negotiations sidelined Israeli officials, who were updated only after the deal was struck.
A dual citizen who grew up in New Jersey, Alexander was serving in the IDF’s Golani Brigade at the time of his abduction. Hamas kidnapped him from his base near the Gaza border community of Nirim, known as the White House post, during its October 7 onslaught.
He is the first male IDF soldier to be freed by Hamas since the start of the war. The other hostages with US citizenship still remaining in the Strip have all been declared dead by Israeli officials — soldiers Itay Chen and Omer Neutra and married couple Judith Weinstein and Gadi Haggai.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressed heavily on Hamas and Israel to agree to a January ceasefire that went into effect even before Trump took office. Pressure and threats from Trump are considered to have played a significant role in ultimately bringing the deal to fruition after more than a year of stalled talks.
During that deal, Hamas freed 30 hostages, including five Thai nationals, and returned the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives. Two of those freed, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel, also had US citizenship, and Siegel met with Trump in the White House in March.
In March, Hamas offered to free only Alexander and the bodies of the other hostages with US citizenship, a move rejected by Israel and later also rejected by Witkoff.
Alexander told soldiers who received him in the Strip that Hamas subjected him to harsh torture for weeks on end and kept him in a cage over a long period of time with his hands and feet bound, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
In remarks to reporters on Tuesday evening, his parents, Yael and Adi, spoke of Edan’s suffering during more than 19 months of captivity.
Yael said her son suffered from a lack of water, food and other aid. He also described the terror he experienced when the IDF would strike Gaza, destroying buildings.
“The strikes and bombs made him think that every moment was about to be his last one,” she said. “Edan, my hero, you returned from the horror. But other hostages are still living through that threat, they are still living in that hell. My heart has returned to beating, but they still need to return home.”
According to the Channel 12 news network, Alexander was severely beaten during the early period of his captivity, and he returned to Israel with flea bites and bruises all over his body.
Israel believes that 58 hostages are still being held by terror groups in Gaza, including 35 confirmed dead by Israeli authorities and another three about whom Israel has expressed severe concern. The 35 bodies include that of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014.