DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An American-Israeli soldier taken captive and held for more than 19 months in the Gaza Strip is expected to be released on Monday, Hamas said, as part of a good will gesture for the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire between the warring sides.
Edan Alexander was snatched from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza. His expected release would be the first since Israel shattered an 8-week ceasefire with Hamas in March when it unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza which have killed hundreds.
Israel has also promised to intensify its offensive, including by seizing the territory and displacing much of its population again. Before the ceasefire’s demise, Israel blocked all imports from entering the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, deepening a humanitarian crisis there. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement on Israel’s terms.
Israel says that, including Alexander, 59 hostages remain in captivity, about 24 who are said to be alive and the remaining are deceased. Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 2023 attack were freed in ceasefire deals.
Trump says the expected release is ‘hopefully’ a step toward ending the war
After announcing on Sunday its intention to release Alexander, Hamas said in a statement on Monday that the handover would occur later in the day. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the timing of the release.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to arrive in the Middle East on Tuesday on his first official foreign trip, said Sunday that the planned release is “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.”
“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
Alexander’s family, which is based in the U.S., was on route to Israel, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the captives’ families.
Israel says it still plans to escalate its offensive in Gaza
On Monday, a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Alexander’s release was expected, without indicating timing, and that Israel was not granting any concessions for it.
The statement said Israel did not commit to a ceasefire or to free Palestinian prisoners as part of the release and that it had only agreed to create a “safe corridor” to allow for Alexander to be returned.
The statement said Israel would still carry on with its plans to ramp up its offensive in Gaza despite the expected hostage release. Israel says it won’t launch that plan until after Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week, to allow for a potential new ceasefire deal to emerge.
A statement by the office on Sunday said the U.S. had told Israel that Alexander’s release could lead to a new deal with Hamas to free more hostages.
Netanyahu faces criticism for not freeing all the hostages
Israel’s exact involvement in getting the release off the ground wasn’t immediately clear. But it created a backlash against Netanyahu, with critics accusing him of having to rely on a foreign leader to help free the remaining hostages.
At the opening of his trial for alleged corruption, where he is giving testimony, a woman in the courtroom asked whether he was “ashamed that the president of the United States is saving his citizens and he is leaving them to die there in captivity?”
Critics accuse Netanyahu of not doing enough to free the hostages, saying his insistence on keeping up the war in Gaza is politically motivated. Netanyahu says he aims to achieve Israel’s twin war goals, freeing the hostages and dismantling
Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 250 captive in its 2023 attack.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. It obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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