{"id":93728,"date":"2025-05-11T21:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T21:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/93728\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T21:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T21:52:08","slug":"hamas-says-it-will-release-us-israeli-captive-edan-alexander-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/93728\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamas says it will release US-Israeli captive Edan Alexander | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hamas has said it will release a US-Israeli captive held in Gaza, as the group confirmed it was engaged in direct talks with the United States towards securing a ceasefire in the war-ravaged enclave<\/a> and getting aid flowing again to a suffering Palestinian population.<\/p>\n

The Palestinian group released a statement on Sunday: \u201cIsraeli soldier Edan Alexander, a dual US national, will be released as part of efforts towards a ceasefire\u201d and the reopening of aid crossings. Israel has blocked all aid, including food, medicine and fuel, for 70 days.<\/p>\n

The Hamas statement did not indicate when the 21-year-old Alexander would be released, but it is thought to be in the coming 48 hours.<\/p>\n

Israeli media reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Israel on Monday as part of the deal.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes shortly before US President Donald Trump\u2019s visit to the Middle East<\/a> this week \u2013 which does not include a trip to Israel. Trump and Witkoff have frequently mentioned Alexander by name in the past few months.<\/p>\n

Alexander, who grew up in the US, was taken from his military base during the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack.<\/p>\n

In its statement on Sunday, Hamas said it was willing to \u201cimmediately begin intensive negotiations\u201d that could lead to an agreement to end the war and would see Gaza under a technocratic and independent administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will ensure calm and stability for many years, along with reconstruction and the end of the blockade,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said on Sunday that the US told Israel that Hamas\u2019s freeing of Alexander would lead to negotiations for the release of more captives. The statement added that Israel\u2019s policy hasn\u2019t changed: negotiations will be conducted under fire with a continued commitment to achieving all war objectives.<\/p>\n

\u2018A lot of questions\u2019<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said: \u201cIt\u2019s unclear exactly what kind of reaction the Israeli government officials had with these direct talks between Hamas and the United States, but last time they were quite angry and that\u2019s because the Israelis weren\u2019t involved and had no knowledge of those talks and the Americans hit back by saying they didn\u2019t need anyone\u2019s permission to negotiate with any of the actors involved because they were American captives held in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of questions from a lot of different angles, specifically from the family members of those captives, from the larger part of Israeli society who have been protesting in the thousands for more than 1.5 years, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war for his own personal and political gain. And in fact, Israeli officials have been saying the quiet part out loud in recent weeks, saying that the captives were not the main priority for the Israeli government and that they had other goals and objectives they needed to achieve\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family members of captives say that the Israeli government is choosing land grabs over the lives of Israelis who are still being held in Gaza\u201d, she continued, referring to the Israeli government\u2019s decision to expand its offensive in Gaza with a view to reoccupying parts of the territory.<\/p>\n

Talks ongoing in Doha<\/p>\n

Earlier on Sunday, two Hamas officials told the AFP news agency that talks were ongoing in the Qatari capital of Doha with the US and reported \u201cprogress\u201d had been made.<\/p>\n

One Hamas official, speaking about the talks with the US, said there was \u201cprogress made \u2026 notably on the entry of aid to the Gaza Strip\u201d and the potential exchange of captives for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.<\/p>\n

A second official also reported progress \u201con the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israel shattered the last ceasefire, which lasted two months, on March 18, launching a major offensive in Gaza and ramping up its bombardment of the territory.<\/p>\n

It has also cut off all aid to Gaza since March 2, saying it would pressure Hamas to release the remaining captives. None have been released since the fleeting truce earlier this year when several were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n

59 captives are still in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.<\/p>\n

Starvation<\/a> has taken hold across Gaza due to the Israeli blockade.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip, with officials talking of retaining a long-term occupying presence there.<\/p>\n

The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that at least 2,720 people have been killed since Israel resumed its assault, bringing the overall Palestinian death toll since the war broke out to 52,829.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hamas has said it will release a US-Israeli captive held in Gaza, as the group confirmed it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2194,835,837,7424,839,12,1814,49,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-93728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-gaza","9":"tag-hamas","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","12":"tag-middle-east","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-palestine","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114491421074777741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}