WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump marked the second anniversary of the Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by spending the afternoon with Edan Alexander, who was held in Hamas captivity for 584 days.

The president hosted the 21-year-old Alexander and his family at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared. The president also met with the family of Omer Neutra, who was killed by Hamas on October 7. Neutra’s body is still in Gaza, but the White House emphasized on Tuesday that Trump is “committed to bringing every hostage home.”

Today, on the second anniversary of the October 7 attack, President Trump welcomed Edan Alexander, who was held hostage by Hamas for 584 days, and the family of Omer Neutra to the Oval Office.

President Trump is committed to bringing every hostage home.💛🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/GrvgrUTNkX

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 7, 2025

The Trump administration negotiated Alexander’s release in May 2025. He is an American, who was born in Rockville, Maryland and later moved to New Jersey. In high school, Alexander joined the Israel Defense Forces, and while he was at an outpost near Kibbutz Nir Oz, he was taken captive by Hamas during the October 7 massacre.

The Daily Wire’s Kassy Akiva previously reported that Alexander had been seen in Hamas propaganda videos and is the first male IDF soldier who was abducted during the massacre to be released. While he was held in captivity, his parents were fighting tirelessly for his release by meeting with world leaders, aggressively keeping his name in the news, and speaking at high profile events.

Edan Alexander is welcomed by Israeli forces after Hamas released him in Tel Aviv (Photo by Israeli Defense Forces / IDF/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Hamas killed and kidnapped the body of the 21-year-old Neutra on October 7, 2023, but it was not until December 2024 that his family learned for certain that he had been killed that day. They had been told that he was being held hostage and had held out hope that he would survive.

“Omer Neutra (21) was born and raised in the United States and chose to immigrate to Israel as a lone soldier, enlisting in the Armored Corps after completing a preparatory year with the Tzabar Garin program,”the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement when Neutra’s death was known.

“Omer loved sports, playing soccer, basketball, and volleyball, and served as the captain of his school’s sports teams. Family and friends described him as a warm, optimistic, and caring individual who ‘lights up the room the moment he enters.'”

Edan Alexander reuniting with his family (Photo by Israeli Defense Forces / IDF/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“President Trump recently said it’s time to bring all the hostages home — and time for the war to end,” Neutra’s parents wrote in a Fourth of July op-ed for The Daily Wire. “We agree. Immense strength has been shown over the past 21 months. Incredible military achievements against Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Now, it is time for that strength to deliver peace.”

“But peace cannot begin until every hostage comes home,” they argued. “There is no real end to the fighting in Gaza while 50 hostages remain in underground tunnels, cut off from the world, and while families like ours live in daily anguish. Peace cannot be built on the backs of unresolved suffering.”

“This is not a partisan issue. This is not just an Israeli issue. It is an American issue — and a human issue. Omer is one of our own, but so are the other 49 souls still trapped in darkness. If we mean what we say when we salute the flag or sing the national anthem, we cannot remain silent while any innocent person is held by a U.S.-designated terror group.”

Critics across the political spectrum ripped New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday for a statement commemorating the second anniversary of the October 7 terror attack on Israel.

Mamdani posted a statement to his X account on Tuesday that reflects on the attack that marked the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. After commemorating the “horrific war crime,” the self-described “democratic socialist” dedicated most of his statement to condemning Israel for perpetrating “genocide” in Gaza, citing fatality numbers from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

“In the aftermath of that day, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government launched a genocidal war: a death toll that now far exceeds 67,000; with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble,” said Mamdani, without noting that Hamas often uses civilian buildings for military functions, in which case those buildings become legitimate military targets under international law.

“Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief itself has run out of language. I mourn these lives and pray for the families that have been shattered. Our government has been complicit through it all,” he continued. “This must end. The occupation and apartheid must end. Peace must be pursued through diplomacy, not war crimes, and our government must act to end these atrocities and hold those responsible to account.”

My statement on the two year anniversary of October 7, 2023. pic.twitter.com/JlsXUeAeYd

— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) October 7, 2025

The statement drew backlash from the Right and the Left. Dan McLaughlin, a senior writer for National Review, was one of many who accused Mamdani of victim-blaming.

“If Israel’s war *in response to being invaded* is ‘genocidal,’ most of the wars fought in the past century would meet that standard on the part of most of the combatants, even those resisting the conquest of their country & the enslavement or extinction of their people,” said McLaughlin.

MSNBC columnist Michael Cohen hit Mamdani as well: “On the second anniversary of October 7, one anodyne sentence on how murdering Jews is bad. And the rest is yet another seedy, pejorative attack on Israel.”

David Frum, a writer at The Atlantic, posted: “This is a genuinely useful statement. The chilly formulaic language about the 10/7 atrocity … the intense angry passion of the denunciation of Israel’s self-defense … together they arrestingly reveal what the author cares about and what/who he does not care about.”

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GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said that not only should Mamdani’s statement disqualify him to run for mayor, but that anyone who endorses the Democratic candidate should be out of American politics.

Mamdani has gained support from notable Democrats such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

“This statement is beyond disqualifying — anyone who endorses him for Mayor is completely unqualified too,” Lawler posted. “Any New York Democrat who supports this insanity needs to be defeated at the ballot box.”

Mamdani’s statement earned reproach from Israel’s Foreign Ministry as well.

“​​Two years after Hamas launched its barbaric massacre against Israel and the Jewish people, Mamdani has chosen to act as a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda — spreading Hamas’s fake genocide campaign,” the ministry responded. “By repeating Hamas’s lies, he excuses terror and normalizes antisemitism. He stands with Jews only when they are dead. Shameful.”