


Hamas released Edan Alexander, the last living American Israeli hostage, on Monday, more than 580 days after he was taken by the terrorist group.
The terrorist group handed the 21-year-old American over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, which is in the southern part of Gaza, and it will bring him to Israel, where he will reunite with his family and receive medical attention. Alexander’s mother, Yael, traveled to Israel and arrived at Re’im military base near the Gazan border to reunite with her son.
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A New Jersey native, Alexander moved to Israel at the age of 18 and was serving in the Israel Defense Forces when he was captured from his base during the Oct. 7 attack.
President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Hamas had agreed to free Alexander, though the U.S.-designated terrorist group has routinely pulled out of possible deals at the last minute.
“This was 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,” Trump said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Monday.
“In his meeting with Special Envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee, the Prime Minister spoke about the latest effort to implement the framework for the release of the hostages presented by Envoy Witkoff, before the expansion of the fighting. To this end, Prime Minister Netanyahu directed that a negotiations team leave for Doha tomorrow,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
Excluding Alexander, Hamas still holds 58 hostages, whom they’ve held since Oct. 7, 2023. About a third of the hostages are believed to still be alive. Four Americans are believed to be among the deceased still held by the group.
Israeli forces restarted significant military operations in Gaza in recent weeks following the collapse of negotiations on a way to end the war, and Israel has also cut off humanitarian aid into Gaza, which they argue is a tactic to force Hamas to get a deal to end the war finalized despite the international concerns of starvation and disease plaguing the civilian population.
HOUTHI ‘CAPITULATION’ AGAINST US DOESN’T END ISRAEL CONFLICT
Hamas’s release of Alexander was different from the previous releases. In the previous releases, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and they occurred during complete cessations of hostilities. This time around, this was a U.S.-Hamas deal that did not include Israel giving up any Palestinians held in Israeli detention.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the war that began in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Much of the strip has been destroyed and Trump administration officials have said it could take more than a decade to rebuild the infrastructure in Gaza.