White House National Security Council Press Secretary Sean Savet responded to a video released by Hamas on Saturday in which an Israeli-American hostage described the horrors of life in captivity for more than 420 days.
“The hostage video of American-Israeli Yidan Alexander released today is a cruel reminder of Hamas's terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own. We are in contact with Yidan's family. ” Savet wrote.
“If Hamas agreed to release the hostages, the war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately – and it would have ended months ago.”
The three-minute-plus video posted on Telegram included messages to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President-elect Trump.
“The prime minister is supposed to protect the people and the soldiers, but you ignored us,” Alexander said, fighting back tears.
He implored the public not to forget those imprisoned by Hamas and encouraged them to organize demonstrations demanding their freedom.
“Fear and isolation are killing us. Don't forget us. It's unreasonable for us to pay for the mistakes made by our government,” Alexander said.
“Israelis, please demonstrate every day and put pressure on your government. It's time to put an end to this nightmare.”
Mr. Alexander called on Mr. Trump to do the same.
“Use your influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom,” the hostage said.
“Every day here feels like an eternity, and the pain from within grows every day. Don't make the mistakes Biden has made,” Alexander added.
“The weapons he sent are now killing us, and the illegal siege has left us starving. I don't want to die like this…”
Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to the video: statement The Israeli government has promised to do everything possible to bring the hostages home.
World leaders have been calling for a ceasefire for months, but to no avail.
President Trump has promised to quickly end conflicts in the region after taking office.
