Hamas, the Palestinian armed group, mentioned on Sunday night time that it will free the final dwelling American citizen held captive in Gaza, simply days earlier than President Trump is anticipated to reach within the area for the primary main international tour of his second time period.
Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s lead negotiator, mentioned in a press release that Hamas had agreed to free the hostage, Edan Alexander, 21, after talks with the USA. He didn’t say when Mr. Alexander could be launched or what Hamas anticipated to obtain in alternate.
Raised in Tenafly, N.J., Mr. Alexander, an Israeli American twin citizen, moved to Israel to serve within the army after highschool. Through the Hamas-led assaults on Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinian militants kidnapped him from the army submit the place he was stationed.
The announcement comes at a pivotal second within the Center East, the place Mr. Trump is scheduled to land on Tuesday for a spherical of diplomacy. Mr. Trump is anticipated to go to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar within the wake of disagreements with Israel over talks with Iran on its nuclear program.
The struggle in Gaza will dangle heavy over Mr. Trump’s go to, though he isn’t visiting Israel. The Israeli authorities is threatening a significant army offensive that may displace most individuals in Gaza except Hamas surrenders and turns over its remaining hostages. Israel has already been blocking meals and different assist to Gaza for greater than two months, deepening the enclave’s humanitarian disaster.
Hamas has broadly refused to free extra captives, saying that Israel should first decide to a path to ending the struggle. However in a doable effort to achieve favor with Mr. Trump, Hamas agreed to free Mr. Alexander as a gesture of fine will, in response to the U.S. official and one other diplomat briefed on the talks, who spoke anonymously to debate the delicate negotiations.
The precise timing and mechanism of Mr. Alexander’s launch had been nonetheless unclear. The Trump administration hoped that he could be freed as quickly as Monday, the U.S. official mentioned. Mahmoud Mardawi, a Hamas official, mentioned the discharge would happen within the subsequent day or two.
Through the talks, the USA pledged to undertake “nice efforts” to finish the struggle in Gaza, Mr. Mardawi mentioned.
“We had been requested to launch Alexander and we complied with the request,” he mentioned in a telephone interview. The People, he mentioned, had conveyed to Hamas that “the struggle ran its course” and “not had any justification.”
Mr. Alexander was one among about 250 folks taken hostage throughout the Oct. 7 assault, which ignited the struggle in Gaza. The hostages had been taken to Gaza to be used as bargaining chips in future negotiations with Israel. Greater than 18 months later, 59 of them stay within the enclave. Dozens of them, together with 4 U.S. residents, are presumed by the Israeli authorities to be useless.
Mr. Alexander’s dad and mom, Adi and Yael Alexander, have campaigned tirelessly for his launch, assembly with officers and talking at rallies. “We live this present day again and again,” Adi Alexander mentioned in a February interview, referring to the Oct. 7 assaults.
Mr. and Ms. Alexander had been touring to Israel on Sunday night time with Adam Boehler, Mr. Trump’s particular envoy for hostage response, Mr. Boehler mentioned in a telephone name. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Center East envoy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been instrumental in securing Mr. Alexander’s launch, he mentioned.
Mr. Trump referred to as information of Mr. Alexander’s impending launch “a step taken in good religion in the direction of the USA” and mentioned, “Hopefully that is the primary of these closing steps needed to finish this brutal battle.”
This 12 months, the Trump administration broke with a longstanding American coverage of boycotting Hamas, which the USA has designated as a terrorist group. Mr. Boehler held direct talks with Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, in an try and safe Mr. Alexander’s freedom, in addition to the our bodies of the 4 useless People. However they foundered amid Israeli objections.
In earlier rounds of negotiations, Hamas set a transparent value for liberating extra hostages: Israel should comply with in the end finish the struggle, withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip and launch giant numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
Through the two-month cease-fire that started in January, Hamas handed over 30 hostages and the our bodies of eight others, whereas Israel freed greater than 1,500 Palestinians being held in its prisons. Israel ended the truce in mid-March, saying talks to safe the following steps within the settlement had been deadlocked.
On Sunday night time, the workplace of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Washington had formally notified Israel that Mr. Alexander’s launch could be a “gesture to the People” with none “compensations or circumstances.” The U.S. official and the diplomat mentioned Hamas had agreed to launch Mr. Alexander with out particular calls for in alternate.
Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace urged, nevertheless, that Mr. Alexander’s launch wouldn’t lead Israel to pause its army marketing campaign in Gaza, at the least in the intervening time. “Underneath Israeli coverage, negotiations will happen as preventing continues,” his workplace mentioned.
The announcement that the USA had secured a promise of freedom for Mr. Alexander prompted hope in Israel. But it surely additionally led some Israelis to voice frustration with their very own authorities, which has failed to achieve the liberty of the remaining hostages.
Critics of Mr. Netanyahu have referred to as on him to comply with a direct settlement to finish the struggle with Hamas and free the remainder of the hostages. Mr. Netanyahu has held out, arguing that saving the captives is much less vital than “victory over our enemies.”
“The duty lies with the Israeli authorities,” mentioned the Hostage Households’ Discussion board, an advocacy group which requires an settlement with Hamas. “Nobody needs to be left behind.”
Isabel Kershner and Fatima AbdulKarim contributed reporting.
