As thousands of people gathered tonight at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, along with dozens more across the country, the family of Edan Alexander—whose video from captivity was released earlier today—chose to address the crowd during this difficult time.
Yael Alexander, his mother, commented: "The video we just saw is not a scripted Hollywood movie - this is the horrific reality we've been living since October 7th, for 421 days. 421 days during which I haven't seen or heard my soul - my Edan. The video has shaken me and my family. While it gives us hope, it also shows how difficult the situation is for Edan and the other hostages, and how desperately they are crying out for us to rescue them - now!''
'"My Edan represents all the living hostages who cannot make their voices heard, and this voice needs to reverberate and shake everyone! My dear Edan, my beloved, we miss you painfully. I want to tell you that following your message earlier this evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called me. He reassured me and promised that now, after reaching an arrangement in Lebanon, conditions are right to free you all and bring you home. Edan, this is also the will of the people!"
"Be strong like my Edan, who has survived there for so long. Be strong, bring them home, and restore to this people the unity, the hope, and the faith that this country is stronger today than ever before! Strong enough to end this war and make a deal that would bring everyone, everyone – and my Edan – back now."
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, said: "I am Varda, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, my dear and beloved grandson. I saw Edan say: Grandma, Grandpa, be strong. Dad and Mom, Mika and Roy, I miss you. Be strong. I cried, I cried, how are you, Edan, strengthening us? We want to strengthen you! Be strong, all of you, there, one for the other."
"Yaeli, my beloved, I returned today to October 7. On that day you were in Israel, and we went through together the whole upheaval in which Edan was abducted. Your heart, the heart of a mother, told you to be here, in Israel, and you came. You told Edan: Edan, I'm with you. Take care of yourself. I'm with you. I love you. And so the conversation ended. And Edan was abducted. Today, when we heard the news and another sign of life from Edan, I feel that you, Yaeli, did not just happen to be here. You came to receive Edan, and with God's help, also to good news. May all the abductees and abductees return to us soon."
The grandmother added, "Today, in the synagogue, we said the blessing of the new month, and I want to share it with you: May it be God's will that He establish the house of our lives and restore His Presence to it speedily in our days. May the God of Heaven have mercy upon our plight and stay the plague, the pestilence, the sword, the famine, the captivity, and the desolation from us and from all the house of Israel. May the God of Heaven grant us and all the soldiers and soldiers, the captives and captives, and the house of Israel in all their dwellings. May it be the will of the God of Heaven that we hear and be told of good tidings, salvations and consolations from the four corners of the earth."
"He who wrought miracles for our fathers and redeemed them from Egypt, He will redeem us and restore to us sons and daughters to their heritage. And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, joy of the world upon their heads. Gladness and joy shall overtake them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. With God's help, may this month bring us good tidings. Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, be brave. Be strong. Fear nothing. Bring us all the abductees and abductees and our Edan home – quickly, now. Make a deal now."