Hamas released an Israeli-American soldier on Monday as a goodwill gesture towards the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire with Israel, reports AP.
Edan Alexander, 21, was held hostage in Gaza for 19 months and is the first hostage released since Israel shattered an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas in March, unleashing fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds of Palestinians.
He was handed over to the Red Cross and then to Israeli forces before being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Tel Aviv.
Israel has promised to intensify its offensive, including by seizing Gaza and displacing much of the territory’s population again, deepening the humanitarian crisis and sparking warnings about the risk of famine if the blockade is not lifted. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement on Israel’s terms.
After being reunited with his family, Alexander’s grandmother, Varda Ben Baruch, said her grandson looked mostly all right in the first photo of him after nearly 600 days in captivity.
Alexander was 19 when he was taken from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza. He has dual-citizenship and was serving in the Israeli army at the time of his capture.
Israel says 58 hostages remain in captivity, with about 23 of them said to be alive. Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 2023 attack were freed in ceasefire deals.
Hamas announced its intention to release Alexander shortly before US President Donald Trump was set to arrive Tuesday in the Middle East on the first official foreign trip of his second term.
Trump on Sunday called the planned release “a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones.”
Alexander’s release created a backlash against Netanyahu, whom critics accuse of having to rely on a foreign leader to help free the remaining hostages and that keeping up the war in Gaza is politically motivated.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in the 2023 attack, according to Israeli sources. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children.