Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli soldier who was released in May after 584 days in Hamas captivity, announced Thursday that he will be resuming his service in the Israel Defense Forces next month.
“I was held for 584 days. Those were the hardest days of my life. Days of struggle, pain and separation from my family. But tonight, I’m standing here free,” Alexander said at a Friends of the IDF event in the United States.
“Next month, God willing, I will return to Israel. I will once again, put on the IDF uniform, and I will proudly serve alongside my brothers,” Alexander added in a clip of the speech released by the beleaguered organization.
“My story does not end with survival. It continues with service,” he said.
Alexander then switched to Hebrew and declared, “Until victory,” before passionately knocking his podium with his hand two times.
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The former hostage returned to New Jersey in June and subsequently met with US President Donald Trump in the White House after Washington helped secure his release.
Former hostage Edan Alexander speaks at a Friends of the IDF event on September 18, 2025. (FIDF)
Following the 30-minute meeting with Trump, Alexander said he had urged the president to do whatever he could to secure the release of the remaining hostages, and shared with him the fear that continued fighting in Gaza could endanger those still in captivity, according to comments published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Alexander, 21, came to Israel from the United States to serve as a soldier in the Golani Infantry Brigade.
He was abducted from the Kissufim military base on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
At the time of his release, Alexander was the last living US citizen in Hamas captivity. His release was widely viewed as a goodwill gesture by Hamas to Trump, with minimal Israeli involvement. Responding to her son’s release in May, Yael Alexander pointedly thanked Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff, but not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This handout photo shows US President Donald Trump, seated, posing for a photo with American-Israeli freed hostage Edan Alexander, at the White House in Washington, on July 3, 2025. (White House)
With his return to military service, Alexander will be the third former hostage to go back to the IDF.
In May, the father of former hostage Liri Albag announced that she was returning to the army.
Ori Megidish, an Israeli soldier who was the first hostage to be rescued from the Gaza Strip, 23 days after she was taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, also went back to military service.
The other female surveillance soldiers kidnapped on that day and later released are no longer in the military as their conscription periods expired.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 26 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Among the bodies held by Hamas is an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
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