Edan Alexander, last living American hostage, freed by Hamas

I am writing this website article as Hamas is announcing that it has released an Israeli-American soldier held hostage for more than nineteen months in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has confirmed that twenty-one-year-old Edan Alexander has been turned over to the Red Cross and is being brought to Israeli forces.

Alexander was kidnapped from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’ murderous invasion on October 7, 2023. His release is the first since Israel and Hamas ended an eight-week ceasefire in March. Hamas calls the release a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire with Israel.

Many are understandably focusing on what this means for peace in the region, but I’d like to take a different approach.

“We received the greatest gift imaginable”

Edan Alexander is the last living American citizen held by Hamas in Gaza. He grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. 

In 2022, during his senior year of high school, he joined Garin Tzabar, a program that prepares young people from around the world to join the Israeli Defense Forces. After graduation, he moved to Israel to serve in the military and was assigned to the infantry.

He was stationed near the Gaza border in September 2023, a month before Hamas’ brutal invasion.

When Hamas announced Sunday that they would release the soldier, the Alexander family issued this statement:

Today, on Mother’s Day, we received the greatest gift imaginable—news that our beautiful son Edan is returning home after 583 days in captivity in Gaza.

We express our deepest gratitude to President Trump, Steve Witkoff, and the US administration for their tireless work to make this happen.

We urge the Israeli government and the negotiating teams: please don’t stop. We hope our son’s release begins negotiations for all 58 remaining hostages, ending this nightmare for them and their families. No hostage should be left behind.

Here’s my point: Edan Alexander volunteered to serve Israel, knowing the potential cost to himself and his family. Unlike those who grow up in Israel, he had no obligation to serve in the Israeli military. He made this decision because he believed in the cause the Jewish State represents as a homeland for the Jewish people.

While those who live in Israel have mandatory military service, Alexander did not; their families have made a similar choice to live in this land. 

After leading more than thirty study tours to Israel, I can attest that every Israeli I have met would be able to thrive in the US or anywhere else their language skills would take them. Most speak English as well as we do. Many are brilliant, capable, and highly motivated. They choose to raise their families in Israel because, like Edan Alexander, they believe in its mission for themselves and the Jewish people.

Standing where Israel was born

Such commitment to the nation reflects the nation’s modern founding.

May 14 will mark Israel’s Independence Day. On that day in 1948, the British Mandate over the region of Palestine expired, and the Jewish People’s Council—led by David Ben Gurion and the leadership cabinet—declared the establishment of the State of Israel.

I have stood in Independence Hall where this historic event occurred. I remembered with gratitude the courage of those present that day. Many knew that the Arab nations surrounding them would declare war on them as a result of their proclamation.

And they did, launching an air attack on Tel Aviv that evening. Arab armies from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt soon invaded; Saudi Arabia sent a formation under Egyptian command. Against all odds, the infant Jewish nation defeated its aggressors and won its independence.

Further wars in 1956, 1967, and 1973 have been followed by conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza and uprisings marked by suicide bombings and military operations. Each time, Israelis have rallied to the cause of defending their people and their freedoms against those who would destroy their nation.

Why an alligator does not try to fly

Edan Alexander represents millions of Israelis across seven decades who have risked their lives and their futures to serve a cause greater than themselves. Their resolve reminds us that life is lived best when it is lived on purpose for a purpose.

Unfortunately, many in the West believe the delusion that they are the best person to choose this purpose for themselves.

In You’re Only Human: How Life’s Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News, theologian Kelly M. Kapic writes:

Whether or not the average person knows the names of philosophers like Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1929–80), our culture has absorbed their axiom, “Existence precedes essence.” That is, we make our meaning; we don’t receive it. This gives great dignity to our choices, but it can foster the illusion that we are born as blank slates (his emphasis).

As Dr. Kapic knows, we are not “born as blank slates.” We are each made in God’s image for his purposes (Genesis 1:27). We live our best lives when we seek and serve his purpose for us, choosing to do what we do best for his greatest glory and the greatest good.

Everything in nature, except humans, is made to do one thing. An alligator does not try to fly, and a turtle does not venture far from the lake. But we are creators as well as creatures. We can choose to find and fulfill our place or not.

The key is understanding that we were created for the purpose God intends for us, not the other way around. We typically think that we should decide what makes us happy and then work to conform the world to the wishes we believe are required for our happiness. 

In reality, God has a purpose for us that transcends anything we can fathom with our finite, fallen minds. He sees the parade from the grandstand, not the knothole in the fence through which we are watching it go by. He knows how our lives can advance his kingdom and manifest his Son in ways we will not understand on this side of eternity.

The first step to finding and fulfilling this purpose is to submit to it before we understand it. If we begin every day by surrendering our lives to the leading and empowering of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), choosing to follow his call wherever it leads, he will make far more of us than we can make of ourselves.

Whatever it takes, whatever he asks, whatever the cost

Edan Alexander was one of 3.1 million people who graduated from American high schools in 2023. He could have gone on to college or a career, and you and I might never have heard of him.

As it was, he chose to serve a calling higher than himself. Now we should pray that his release advances the cause of peace in Israel and beyond.

And we can match his courage with our own, serving the call of God with obedience that will echo eternally in heaven.

Whatever it takes, whatever he asks, whatever the cost—is this your commitment to your Lord today?