Hostage's Family Reacts to His Release: 'You Look Unbelievable'

On Monday, Hamas released the last living American-Israeli hostage, 21-year-old Edan Alexander, and now there's video of his emotional reunion with his family after 584 days in captivity, reports Mediaite.

• Footage: In the clip posted by Axios' Barak Ravid, the New Jersey native is seen smiling as he's escorted by IDF soldiers into the waiting arms of his mother, who barrels into him to embrace him, screaming and crying with joy. Other family members soon join them, with similar exuberant reaction.

• More: Earlier, Ravid had posted a video showing US envoy Steve Witkoff handing Alexander's mom a phone so she could speak with her son for the first time in more than a year and a half. "They just released a photo of you," a beaming Yael Alexander says. "You look unbelievable. ... I love you so much." Per the AP, the young soldier's grandmother noted after seeing his picture: "He seemed like a man. He has really matured."
• Witkoff: The US envoy posted his own tweet, noting that he and Alexander had the chance to speak to US President Trump on the phone. "After months in captivity, the world is inspired by his courage and resilience. His return gives hope to so many," Witkoff writes.
• Mom on other hostages: "This isn't over," Yael Alexander said at Ben Gurion Airport, per the Times of Israel. "We have more hostages in Gaza. ... We cannot rest and we cannot forget, everyone needs to come home."
• An Alexander-Trump visit? There'd been whispers that the 21-year-old would meet with Trump in Qatar, where the US president is expected to arrive on Wednesday as part of a planned Mideast trip, but his family says that's not happening. "[Edan's] medical condition requires that he rest," the family says in a statement, per the Times, citing Channel 12. "He will meet with Trump in the US at a later date."
• 'Unlikely intermediary': Ravid reports more on the behind-the-scenes efforts to get Alexander released, with sources telling him that the process began when a Hamas official reached out to Bishara Bahbah, the former head of the Arab Americans for Trump group. "Witkoff, with help from Qatari officials and Bahbah, ultimately convinced the militant group that releasing Alexander 'for free' would carry a lot of weight with Trump," Ravid writes. More here on that.

(More Israel-Hamas war stories.)