Release of Edan Alexander, the Israeli-US hostage freed by the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza on Monday, is "a divine gift" for the parents of the young man.
"Having Edan at home is wonderful. It's a divine gift to see him hold Yael (his mother) in his arms and to know that his suffering is over, and that our family can begin to heal," said his father, Adi Alexander, during a press statement in Tel Aviv.
His mother, Yael Alexander, spoke of "time standing still" when she embraced her son after 584 days of captivity.
After discussions with US representatives, Hamas released Alexander on Monday, who was until then the only living hostage with American nationality still held in the Gaza Strip since the bloody attack carried out by the Palestinian movement on October 7, 2023.
Alexander said she had her "heart broken" upon hearing her son's first accounts of what he had endured.
"Edan began to tell of the indescribable anguish and daily fear of not surviving each night, the hunger, the lack of water, the appalling sanitary conditions," she recounted.
"But the most terrifying sound of all was that of war raging above his head: deafening explosions, whistling missiles, sounds of collapse, destruction, and the earth trembling. Each moment could be the last," she added.
The young man's health, who turned 21 in captivity, is "stable" according to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, where he was admitted after his release — and where he was born.
"The full medical consequences of prolonged captivity in unbearable conditions will continue to be assessed by our teams in the coming days," said Gil Fire, the medical officer of the hospital, in another press statement.
The parents thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and called for the release of all hostages still held captive in the Gaza Strip.
Of the 251 people abducted in Israel during the attack on Oct.7, 57 are still held in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army.
Hamas is also holding the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in the Palestinian territory in 2014.
