Hamas says Edan Alexander, the final dwelling American hostage in Gaza, will likely be launched as a part of efforts to ascertain a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume the supply of help.
The Hamas assertion Sunday night time doesn’t say when the discharge will occur. The announcement comes shortly earlier than U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Center East this week. Trump just isn’t planning to go to Israel.
Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the US. He was kidnapped from his base in the course of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault that ignited the warfare in Gaza.
There was no instant response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace. Netanyahu’s authorities was angered by U.S. direct talks with Hamas earlier this 12 months.
Khalil al-Hayyah, a Hamas chief in Gaza, stated the group has been in touch with the U.S. administration over the previous few days.
Al-Hayyah stated in an announcement Hamas is able to “instantly begin intensive negotiations” to succeed in a remaining deal for a long-term truce which incorporates an finish to the warfare, the trade of Palestinian prisoners and hostages in Gaza and the handing over of energy in Gaza to an impartial physique of technocrats.
Alexander’s mother and father didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Trump and his particular envoy Steve Witkoff have often talked about Alexander, now 21, by identify prior to now few months. Witkoff is predicted to go to Israel within the coming hours.
“Each time they are saying Edan’s identify, it’s like they didn’t overlook. They didn’t overlook he’s American, they usually’re engaged on it,” Edan’s mom, Yael Alexander, instructed The Related Press in February.
Hamas launched a video of Alexander in November in the course of the Thanksgiving weekend, his favourite vacation, his mom stated. The video was tough to observe as he cried and pleaded for assist, nevertheless it was a reduction to see the latest signal that he was alive, she stated.
A local of Tenafly, New Jersey, the place his mother and father and two youthful siblings nonetheless stay, Edan Alexander moved to Israel in 2022 after highschool and enlisted within the army.
Fifty-nine hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, round a 3rd of them believed to be alive, after a lot of the relaxation have been launched in ceasefire agreements or different offers.
Bombardment continues
Israeli strikes in a single day and into Sunday killed 15 folks in the Gaza Strip, principally ladies and youngsters, in line with native well being officers.
Two of the strikes hit tents within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, every killing two youngsters and their mother and father, in line with Nasser Hospital, which acquired the our bodies. One other seven folks have been killed in strikes elsewhere, together with a person and his little one in a Gaza Metropolis neighborhood, in line with hospitals and Gaza’s Well being Ministry.
The Israeli army says it solely targets militants and tries to keep away from harming civilians. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths within the 19-month-old warfare as a result of the militants are embedded in densely populated areas. There was no instant Israeli touch upon the newest strikes.
Israel has sealed Gaza off from all imports, together with meals, drugs and emergency shelter, for over 10 weeks in what it says is a stress tactic geared toward forcing Hamas to launch hostages. Israel resumed its offensive in March, shattering a ceasefire that had facilitated the discharge of greater than 30 hostages.
The U.N. and help teams say meals and different provides are operating low and starvation is widespread. Help teams say the humanitarian disaster is worse than at any time within the 19-month warfare.
Youngsters carrying empty bottles raced after a water tanker in a devastated space of northern Gaza on Sunday. Residents of the built-up Shati refugee camp stated the water was introduced by a charity from elsewhere in Gaza. With out it, they depend on wells which might be salty and sometimes polluted.
“I’m compelled to drink salty water, I’ve no selection,” stated Mahmoud Radwan. “This causes intestinal illness, and there isn’t any drugs to deal with it.”
COGAT, the Israeli army physique in command of Palestinian civilian affairs, says sufficient help entered throughout a two-month ceasefire this 12 months and that two of the three essential water traces from Israel are nonetheless functioning.
Trump to go to the area
Trump, whose administration has voiced full assist for Israel’s actions, is about to go to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week in a regional tour that won’t embody Israel.
The warfare started when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 folks, principally civilians, and taking 251 hostage.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, principally ladies and youngsters, in line with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say how most of the lifeless have been combatants or civilians. The offensive has destroyed huge areas of the territory and displaced some 90% of its inhabitants of round 2 million.
Israel recovers stays of soldier killed in Lebanon in 1982
In a separate growth, Israel stated it retrieved the stays of a soldier killed in a 1982 battle in southern Lebanon after he had been categorised as lacking for greater than 4 a long time.
The restoration of Sgt. 1st Class Tzvi Feldman’s stays introduced extra closure to a case that has plagued Israel for years. The Israeli army stated his stays have been recovered from deep inside Syria, with out offering additional particulars.
Netanyahu visited Feldman’s surviving siblings on Sunday and instructed them that the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad late final 12 months led to an “alternative” that allowed the army and the Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence company, to collect further intelligence and finally find and retrieve the physique, in line with video launched by his workplace.
Feldman went lacking, together with 5 different Israeli troopers, in a battle with Syrian forces within the Lebanese city of Sultan Yaaqoub. A number of years later, two of the lacking troopers have been returned alive to Israel in prisoner exchanges with Syria. The stays of one other soldier have been returned in 2019, after Russia stated it had helped find them in Syria, whereas the destiny of the opposite two remained unknown.
Instances of troopers lacking for many years have a strong emotional and political resonance in Israel, the place army service is obligatory for many Jewish males.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo. Related Press author Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
Dozens of protesters got here out to Central Park to name for the remaining hostages being held by Hamas to be launched. The demonstration comes a day after Hamas launched a video of Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American solider from New Jersey. Information 4’s Jessica Cunnington studies.
