(NewsNation) — Fifty-nine hostages remain in Hamas captivity 582 days since the start of the war in Gaza, and 21-year-old Israeli American Edan Alexander is one of them.
On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, he was serving in an infantry unit near the Israel-Gaza border when he was taken.
His mother, Yael Alexander, celebrated another Mother’s Day without him.
“It’s very, very tough to wake up every day. It’s a nightmare, but this is our life now, and whatever we are doing, it’s not enough,” she said Sunday morning on NewsNation’s “Morning in America with Hena Doba.”
The last sign of life was a Hamas-provided video of him during Passover.
“We saw our son screaming and yelling and saying very tough things,” Alexander said. “Since that clip, I’m not sleeping. I’m worried sick. And I just hope that he knows that everyone loves him, everyone cares about him and we are doing everything that we can to bring him home.”
Last month, Hamas said it lost contact with Edan, but his father Adi dismissed the claims, comparing it to previous false statements from the terrorist organization.
According to the Israeli Defense Force, Hamas took 255 people captive, including Edan and some other Americans, since the war’s start. Since then, dozens of hostages have been released, some alive and some dead.
Alexander said her son may be the only living American hostage remaining.
“The belief is that Edan is still alive, and there are four deceased ones,” she said.
The Gaza Health Ministry has reported 52,000 deaths from Israeli strikes.
President Donald Trump will travel to the Middle East this week as his administration has struggled to move the needle in brokering a ceasefire.
“We are very full of hope that something will happen this week. It’s a critical week,” Alexander said.
Also on Mother’s Day, the new pontiff of the Catholic Church Pope Leo XIV delivered his first Sunday blessing in which he called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“I, too, address the world’s great powers by repeating the ever-present call ‘never again war,’” Leo said from St. Peter’s Basilica Vatican City in front of more than 100,000 people.
The Alexanders, meanwhile, marked another holiday without their son. In the past, they would eat at a French bistro. This year, instead, they ate brunch at their New Jersey home with their other children.
Yael Alexander’s message to her son, Edan, on Mother’s Day: “Oh my god, my beautiful Edan. I love you so much. I miss you. Stay strong, survive and you’re coming back. You’re coming back very, very soon. Please stay strong.”