The White House denounced the harrowing hostage video of Edan Alexander released on Saturday, calling it "a cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror."
The disturbing hostage footage shows the 20-year-old covering his face and crying. Alexander, who is a dual American-Israeli citizen, was serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when he was abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attacks.
In the footage, Alexander appeared gaunt and pale. The hostage explained that he had been a prisoner for over 420 days and delivered forced messages to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President-elect Trump.
On Saturday, National Security Council (NSC) spokesman Sean Savett said that the White House was aware of the footage and is in touch with Alexander's family.
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"The hostage video released today of American-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander is a cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own," he said.
"The war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately — and would have ended months ago — if Hamas agreed to release the hostages," Savette added. "It has refused to do so, but as the President said last week, we have a critical opportunity to conclude the deal to release the hostages, stop the war, and surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza."
Savett also promised that President Biden "will continue to work around the clock" to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza.
The release of the footage came days after the IDF and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, agreed to a 60-day cease-fire in Lebanon. While announcing the deal on Tuesday, Biden acknowledged Hamas' unwillingness to release its hostages.
"Far too many civilians in Gaza have suffered far too much," the president said from the White House's Rose Garden. "And Hamas has refused, for months and months, to negotiate a good-faith ceasefire and a hostage deal."
Alexander's parents, Yael and Adi Alexander, appeared on "Fox & Friends" last month to speak about their son. During the interview, the New Jersey residents described a meeting they had with President-elect Trump.
"I just told [Trump] about Edan, what kind of a Jersey boy he is," Yael said. "I told the president that people that [were] rescue[d] in mid-November, saw Edan inside the tunnels, and they told me that he was speaking with them, tell[ing] everyone that he's an American citizen."
"He tried to calm everyone down and to say, 'Listen, you're all civilians. You will be out soon, very fast. Don't worry about it.' It gave us a lot of strength to know that Edan was strong on October 7th, and he was comforting others," she added.
Reuters and Fox News Digital's Bailee Hill contributed to this report.
