In a shocking development from Gaza, Hamas has announced it has "lost contact" with the fighters who are reportedly holding Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander as a hostage. This revelation comes in the wake of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their location.

Twenty-one-year-old Edan Alexander has been featured in several distressing videos released by Hamas in recent days, pleading for his release. Israel, seeking his freedom, had earlier proposed a new 45-day ceasefire which Hamas has outright rejected.

A Hamas spokesman, Abu Obeida, stated, "We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location," emphasizing that efforts to reach the fighters are ongoing. This assertion, however, lacks any supporting evidence, and Israel maintains that it is careful not to target areas where hostages are believed to be present.

Currently, of the 251 hostages seized during the violent October 7 attack by Hamas, 59 remain in Gaza, with only 24 of them thought to be alive. Notably, five of the captives are U.S. citizens, with Alexander being the sole one believed to be alive.

Hamas further escalated the situation by releasing a warning video to hostages’ families, ominously stating that remaining captives would return to their loved ones in coffins if Israel continued its military actions.

Just last Saturday, a video surfaced showing Alexander alive, in which he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former President Donald Trump to negotiate his release. Alexander’s family has been vocal in their criticism, with his father, Adi Alexander, questioning Netanyahu’s strategy in an interview, asking, "How do you plan to get hostages out without ending this war and without committing to the second phase of this deal?"

A Hamas official explained that Alexander was included in the proposed ceasefire deal, which would see half of the hostages released in exchange for a cessation of hostilities, with Alexander’s release being considered a "gesture of goodwill" from the start.

The backdrop to this crisis includes a prior ceasefire earlier this year that resulted in the release of 33 hostages in exchange for the freedom of 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. However, talks for a subsequent agreement fell apart, prompting Israel to launch renewed military operations on March 18.

Originally from Tel Aviv but raised in New Jersey, Alexander was serving in an elite infantry unit at the Gaza border when he was captured. Hamas, in its bid for negotiations, has insisted it is prepared to release all hostages if Israel agrees to a complete cessation of military actions and withdraws from Gaza.

Most recently, Hamas firmly rejected Israel's proposal for a renewed ceasefire, with a senior Palestinian official stating that the offer, relayed through Egypt, demanded the disarmament of Hamas without any assurance of an end to the war or a withdrawal from Gaza.