A series of Israeli airstrikes nearly killed American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander in his last month of captivity after having been taken hostage during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, the Ynet outlet reported Friday.

The incident highlighted the fears of hostages’ families that Israel’s continued military operations in Gaza are risking the fate of their loved ones. Of the several dozen hostages who have been killed in captivity, some were killed in Israeli airstrikes.

The IDF has insisted that it does not carry out operations that it knows might risk the hostages, while acknowledging that its intelligence on their exact whereabouts isn’t 100 percent certain.

On April 14, Ynet published remarks made by IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to a group of reservists in which he insisted that “the operation in Gaza does not endanger the hostages. Every move was made with the approval of Maj Gen. Nitzan Alon, the IDF’s hostage pointman.”

That very same day, Israeli Air Force bombs were dropped on a Hamas compound that secured the tunnel where Alexander was being held. The force of the blast caused part of the tunnel shaft to collapse.

The quick action of one of the Hamas guards to activate the blast doors to prevent the entry of toxic gases saved the lives of Alexander and those of the terrorists with him, Ynet said, adding that one of his captors was killed in the incident.

Edan’s father, Adi Alexander, repeated to Ynet what his son told him about the near-death experience.

“I thought that was it, I’m dead. I managed to miraculously survive for a year and a half, but now it’s the end. I’m going to suffocate here in the tunnel,” Ynet quoted Alexander recalling to his father after his release.

At that point, the terrorists tried to lead Alexander to a different tunnel, thought to be more fortified.

“We started to run away, and there was some kind of corridor — a very, very long corridor — I don’t know what was there on the other side, probably a connection to another route. We started running in that direction and then, suddenly, another bomb fell right above.”

In the second explosion, part of the collapsed ceiling hit Edan and injured his shoulder — something for which he is still receiving treatment.

“When the second bomb fell, and everything collapsed and we were buried underneath. It was the scariest moment of all time in captivity,” the soldier was quoted as having said, describing the explosions as “earthquakes.”

Amid the darkness, Alexander began to dig his way out using his bare hands.

“The injuries to his hands that everyone saw are the result of trying to extricate himself from the scene,” Adi, told Ynet. Photos of Edan on the day he returned to Israel showed him with multiple scars and marks along his arms.

“We dug ourselves out of it before everything collapsed on us,” Alexander was quoted as having said.

The story appeared to shed light on a statement Hamas issued the day after the bombing, claiming to have lost contact with the operatives holding Alexander following an Israeli strike. US President Donald Trump has said several times that Washington thought the dual US-Israeli national had been killed.

Ynet cited unnamed IDF sources as saying that the strike that day was aimed at a Hamas compound above ground and therefore should not have posed a threat to those below it in the tunnels.

However, Edan was quoted as telling his parents that during his first year of captivity, “we were so close to death because of the army that was relentlessly bombing and caused us again and again to flee bombings.”

Adi Alexander told Ynet “it is only by luck that Edan is now home in one piece.”

“I have no reason to hide this now, to protect the image of the Israeli security establishment. They nearly killed my boy,” he said.

In a response to the Ynet article, an IDF spokesperson said that operations are planned in cooperation with its unit responsible for those held captive or missing in Gaza.

“The IDF continues to operate with all means in order to fulfil the supreme national goal of returning the hostages,” the military said.

Ynet reported that the response it received from the IDF did not directly address whether or not the military had information that Alexander might be in the area that was bombed, or its policy on attacking sites where it does not have reasonable information about the possible presence of hostages.

The army also did not respond to questions about a probe that had been opened into the Alexander incident, the outlet said.

Edan Alexander was released on May 12 in what was characterized by Hamas as a goodwill gesture to Trump in the hope that he would coax Israel into subsequently agreeing to a deal to permanently end the war.

Other hostages have told similar stories. On Saturday night, at a demonstration in support of the hostages, former captive Naama Levy, one of five IDF female surveillance soldiers released in a ceasefire-hostage deal in January, told the crowd that the air force bombings “come by surprise.”

“First you hear a whistle, pray it doesn’t fall on you, and then — the booms, a noise loud enough to paralyze you. The earth shakes.”

“I was convinced every single time that I was finished, and it’s also what put me in the greatest danger: one of the bombardments collapsed part of the house I was in,” she said. “The wall I was leaning on didn’t collapse, and that’s what saved me.”

She added: “That was my reality, and now it’s their reality. At this very moment, there are hostages who hear those same whistles and booms, shaking with fear. They have nowhere to run, they can only pray and cling to the wall while feeling a horrible powerlessness.”

The war was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, in which terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.