Hamas Releases Propaganda Video Featuring Israeli Hostage

For the first time in months, Hamas has released a propaganda video featuring an Israeli hostage. Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, has never before appeared in one of the videos, CNN reports. Released Saturday on the secure messaging site Telegram, the video claims to have been taken recently and features Alexander accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "neglecting" the remaining hostages, CBS News reports. Alexander also appeals to President-elect Donald Trump to use his "influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom."

Netanyahu's office referred to the video as "the publication of the brutal psychological warfare video in which an important and exciting sign of life was received from Edan," and said the PM had spoken with Alexander's family, who authorized its release. Alexander's mother said in her own statement, issued via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, that her son "represents all the living hostages who cannot make their voices heard, and this voice needs to reverberate and shake everyone!" In an appearance on Face the Nation Sunday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speculated that Hamas is "feeling the pressure" following Hezbollah's ceasefire deal with Israel, and "may be looking anew" at possibilities for its own deal. (More Israeli hostages stories.)