Hamas announced on Sunday, May 11, 2025, its intention to release Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old US-Israeli soldier and the last known living American hostage held in Gaza, as a gesture to facilitate ceasefire negotiations and resume humanitarian aid deliveries. A source close to Hamas told AFP that Alexander’s release was “most likely” to occur on Monday or Tuesday, May 12 or 13, contingent on securing a “safe corridor” free of Israeli military operations for his transfer to the Red Cross, without a public handover ceremony. The move coincides with US President Donald Trump’s Middle East visit starting Tuesday, including stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, though not Israel.
Hamas’s statement framed the release as part of efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire, reopen aid crossings, and negotiate a broader deal involving prisoner exchanges and an independent, technocratic administration for Gaza. The group has been in direct talks with US officials in Doha, Qatar, a shift from Washington’s decades-long policy of avoiding engagement with Hamas, which it designates as a terrorist organization. Egypt and Qatar, key mediators alongside the US, welcomed the announcement as a “goodwill gesture” and a step toward resuming ceasefire talks. Trump hailed the development as “monumental news” on social media, expressing hope it could lead to ending the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, firmly rejected any ceasefire, stating Israel agreed only to a “safe corridor” for Alexander’s release, not a truce or the release of Palestinian prisoners. His office emphasized that negotiations for the remaining 58 hostages, 34 of whom Israel believes are dead, would continue “under fire” amid preparations to intensify military operations. Netanyahu’s stance aligns with Israel’s policy of maintaining pressure on Hamas, which it seeks to eliminate following the group’s October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,218 people and abducted 251 hostages. Since Israel ended a two-month ceasefire on March 18, 2025, its offensive has killed 2,720 Palestinians, bringing the total death toll to 52,829, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The announcement comes amid strained US-Israel relations, with reports of frustration in the Trump administration over Netanyahu’s refusal to commit to a ceasefire. US envoy Steve Witkoff, who notified Alexander’s family of Hamas’s plans, has reportedly criticized Israel’s approach, advocating for a full ceasefire to secure all hostages and end the war. Israel’s 70-day blockade of Gaza, blocking all aid since March 2, has drawn international condemnation, with UN agencies and human rights groups accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon, potentially constituting a war crime. Despite this, Israel approved a US plan to restore aid, which Foreign Minister Gideon Saar endorsed, though it faces criticism for sidelining UNRWA and existing aid networks.
Hamas’s decision follows earlier negotiations, including a US proposal in March 2025 that offered a Trump statement calling for calm in exchange for Alexander’s release, which Hamas’s Gaza military leader Mohammed Sinwar rejected. Posts on X from March and April 2025 indicated Hamas briefly agreed to release Alexander and four deceased hostages’ remains but reneged, demanding Israel initiate phase two talks, allow unrestricted aid, and withdraw from parts of Gaza. Israel dismissed these as tactics to delay negotiations. The current release plan, described as a gesture to Trump, may reflect Hamas’s strategic bid to leverage US pressure on Israel, especially as Trump pushes for a broader Israel-Saudi normalization deal, which Saudi Arabia conditions on a Palestinian state—a prospect Netanyahu’s coalition opposes.
The situation remains volatile, with Israeli strikes continuing, including an airstrike on a Gaza school sheltering displaced people that killed 10 on Sunday, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. Netanyahu faces domestic pressure from far-right coalition members to escalate the offensive and from hostage families and protesters demanding a deal. As Trump’s visit approaches, Israel has set the end of his trip as a deadline for a new hostage and ceasefire agreement, threatening to occupy and displace Gaza’s population if no deal is reached, a plan UN agencies and Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, have rejected.
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