NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 19-year-old recent New Jersey high school graduate serving in the Israeli Defense Forces is missing, following Hamas' weekend attack on Israel, Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed.
Edan Alexander recently graduated from Bergen County's Tenafly High School. He was serving as a soldier in the IDF near Gaza when Hamas attacked.
"Tragically, we now know that there are New Jerseyeans among the missing in Israel," Murphy said at a vigil for victims in Hoboken Tuesday night. "Earlier this week, I spoke with the family of one man who has yet to be found: Edan Alexander."
"We pray for Edan's swift, safe return," Murphy said. "And we pray for every family in New Jersey — and across the country — with loved ones who are still unaccounted for."'
A Tenafly School District spokeswoman told NJ.com, "The Tenafly Public Schools' administration, teaching staff and school counselors are focused on supporting our students and staff during this difficult period."
And at an unrelated press conference Wednesday, Murphy refered to Hamas' attack on Israel as "the absolute barbaric slaughtering of innocent Israelis and many others, including Americans."
Another New Jersey native, 20-year-old Laor Abramov (pictured, below), moved from the Garden State to Israel to serve in the military and becoming a deejay.
He was attending the Nova music festival when Hamas attacked, and texted his parents from a bomb shelter, but they haven't heard from him since. They told CBS News that a witness told them he was taken hostage by Hamas.
Abramov's aunt, Yael Abramov, told The New York Post that a woman who survived the attack on the shelter, told Laor's father, "The shelter where we were hiding was threatened with terrorists. They had rounds and rounds of hand grenades that they threw inside and some of the young people there tried to throw them back out. Then they got in with their automatic guns and shot everyone ... Whoever was still on their feet standing, they grabbed them and put them on their pickup truck and drove away."
Another missing New Jersey native is Ari Dubin, 20, a soldier in the IDF. His mother Nancy Dubin, a cantor at Wyckoff's Temple Beth Rishon, told NorthJersey.com she hasn't heard from him since Saturday.
And former Paramus resident Itay Glisko, 20, was killed in the Hamas massacre, his cousin Eyal Glisko told The Daily Beast. He said his cousin was "doing his duty" as a soldier when he was killed.
"We are heartbroken to learn that 20-year-old Itay Glisko, who spent his early years in Paramus, tragically lost his life during the attacks in Israel," Murphy wrote on X. "My deepest condolences are with Itay's family during this painful time."
