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Freed American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander is headed back to the Holy Land to fight against the very terrorists who held him captive for nearly 600 days.
Alexander, who has Israeli parents but grew up in northern New Jersey, announced his plans to return to the Middle East next month to rejoin the Israeli Defense Forces.
“Next month, God willing, I will return to Israel,” Alexander revealed during a dinner this week in Manhattan for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.
He said serving Israel is “one of the greatest honors of my life.”
“I will once again put on the IDF uniform, and I will proudly serve alongside my brothers,” he told the more than 1,000 attendees.
“My story does not end with survival — it continues with service,” he said, as the crowd cheered him on,” according to northjersey.com.
Alexander, 21, was the last living US hostage being held by Hamas when he was released in May. He was among a dozen Americans taken hostage by the terror group on Oct. 7, 2023.
Alexander had traveled to Israel in 2023 to complete his mandatory military service with the IDF. The staff sergeant was kidnapped during Hamas’ heinous Oct. 7 attack while attending the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, a trance music festival.
They kept Alexander holed up in Gaza for the next 584 days and occasionally used him as a pawn for propaganda videos and images. He was also interrogated and beaten by members of Hamas’ military wing.
“I fought every single day to survive in captivity, in the tunnels, in the darkness,” he explained, calling his days as a hostage “the hardest days of my life — days of struggle, pain, and separation from my family.
“While I am free, many others are still in captivity,” he added. “Their nightmare continues. Their families still wait. We cannot forget them. We cannot stop until they are all home.
“I dream of the day when every hostage will walk free. When no soldier, no child, no parent will face what I faced.”
Alexander then declared “Until victory” in Hebrew, and slapped his hand against the podium for emphasis, according to northjersey.com.
The terror group released Alexander in an attempt to placate President Trump.
In June, he returned to Tenafly, New Jersey, and was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers who lined the town’s streets. He later met with Trump at the White House.
The Thursday dinner was a fundraiser for the Friends of the Israel Defense Force, a nonprofit that services Israeli soldiers, providing emergency medical supplies, mental health treatment for veterans, and support for the families of the fallen.
