The Tragic Silence: Edan Alexander’s Imminent Release and the remaining Hostages of Gaza

In a rare and fragile moment of progress, Hamas has announced it will release Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier taken hostage during the October 7, 2023 attacks. His release, reportedly part of a broader negotiation effort to secure a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, is a glimmer of hope in what has otherwise been a relentlessly dark and tragic chapter. But behind this one name, behind the headlines and the diplomacy, lies a deeper, more harrowing truth: up to 59 hostages remain in Gaza—many possibly dead, many still enduring unfathomable horror.

Edan Alexander’s case is particularly poignant. Born in Tel Aviv and raised in New Jersey, he was serving in an elite IDF infantry unit near Gaza when he was captured during Hamas’s brutal assault. He is believed to be the last living American citizen among the hostages. For months, his fate remained unknown, and now his reported upcoming release—confirmed by President Donald Trump as “monumental news”—has rekindled hope for his family, and for the families of all hostages.

But what about the others?

Of the 251 people taken on October 7, a staggering 59 remain captive. Up to 24 of them are thought to be alive. The others? We simply don’t know. The silence surrounding their fate is deafening. No names, no updates, no clarity. The lives of mothers, children, grandparents, and civilians hang in a tragic limbo—many surviving underground or in makeshift cells, facing conditions the human mind cannot truly comprehend.

Where is the global outcry?

Where are the urgent calls for protest, the vigils, the marches demanding their safe return? The same world that once united in horror at the October 7 massacre now seems to have turned away. For these remaining hostages, time has become a cruel companion. They’ve been abandoned by the headlines, eclipsed by geopolitical calculations, buried beneath debates about military operations and ceasefire terms.

Hamas’s announcement that it will release Alexander as a goodwill gesture ahead of Trump’s arrival in the Middle East comes amid negotiations with US officials in Qatar. It is also meant to facilitate humanitarian aid entry into Gaza, which has been under complete blockade for 70 days. Hamas says the move is a step toward ending the war and establishing a broader prisoner exchange. But this is the same group that continues to hold dozens of innocent people in conditions amounting to torture.

And while Israel’s military campaign rages on, aimed at defeating Hamas, the civilian cost has been staggering. According to Hamas-run health authorities, over 52,000 people have died in Gaza, many of them women and children. The humanitarian crisis is devastating. Aid groups report food prices have risen by over 1,400%, and 10,000 cases of acute child malnutrition have been identified by the UN since January. International bodies have warned that starvation is being used as a weapon of war—an allegation Israel denies.

Amid this humanitarian catastrophe, the fate of the hostages should be a moral focal point, a shared red line that transcends politics. Instead, it seems they’ve become pawns—hostages not just to their captors, but to diplomatic inertia, to hardened positions, to apathy.

The Families and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group in Israel, welcomed the news of Alexander’s release but issued a clear warning: this must be just the beginning. They urge the Israeli government to pursue a comprehensive deal to bring all hostages home. President Trump’s involvement has rekindled hopes, but political timelines and ceasefire conditions must not take precedence over the lives of those still in captivity.

Behind each hostage is a family living a nightmare. Parents wake up wondering if their children are still alive. Spouses pray for news that never comes. Children go to sleep without knowing if they’ll ever see their loved ones again. This human suffering demands our attention—and our voice.

It’s not enough to celebrate one release. It’s not enough to wait quietly for negotiations to yield results. The global community must not treat these hostages as footnotes in a broader conflict. Their lives matter. Their suffering is real. And our silence, our failure to demand their freedom, makes us complicit in their continued captivity.

Let Edan Alexander’s release serve not just as a victory for diplomacy, but as a call to action. The remaining 59 cannot be forgotten. The world must raise its voice once again, louder than ever, to say: bring them home. All of them. Now.