Karoline Leavitt: Finding And Saving Hamas Hostage Edan Alexander A Priority Of Trump Administration

At a press briefing, Karoline Leavitt discussed Edan Alexander, a U.S. citizen being held hostage in Gaza.

Transcript

00:00First of all, thank you for having us today. It's a pleasure to be here.

00:02You mentioned, obviously, it's no secret. America has been Israel's strongest friend, greatest ally.

00:08Unfortunately, as you know, Idon Alexander is still being held in Gaza.

00:11He's both an American and an Israeli citizen.

00:14Last we heard, allegedly Hamas has lost all communication with him.

00:18I was wondering if there's been any update in terms of getting Idon home.

00:21Sure. First of all, the reports last week were from Hamas media.

00:26And so we always take that, of course, with a grain of salt.

00:30We do our own verification on those reports.

00:33I talked to the National Security Council about Idon Alexander last week,

00:37as this is obviously a priority for the administration.

00:39And all I can tell you is that I can assure you that the Special Envoy Whitcoff,

00:44Adam Bowler, who's been leading some of our hostage negotiations,

00:48Mike Waltz, the entire national security team,

00:50finding him and bringing him home is a priority for this administration.

00:54And they continue to work very hard on that every day.