Deir Al-Bala, Gaza Strip (AP)-Hamas said on Sunday that the last alive American hostage in Gaza, Edin Alexander, will be released as part of the efforts made to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings in a broken Israeli area and resume the delivery of aid. Two enthusiasm officials told the Associated Press that they expect the version in the next 48 hours.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Wittouf, confirmed late Sunday in a letter to AP that Hamas agreed to release Alexander as a good report towards Trump.
The announcement of the first hostage version since Israel shattered the ceasefire in March shortly before Trump’s Middle East visit this week. Israel’s closest ally to inject momentum has highlighted the 19 -month ceasefire talks with despair growing between the families of the hostages and more than two million people in a gas under the new Israeli siege.
Alexander, an Israeli -American soldier, originated in New Jersey. He was kidnapped from his base during October 7, 2023, led by Hamas, which ignited the war in Gaza.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the United States informed him of the intention of Hamas to launch Alexander “without compensation or conditions” and the move is expected to lead to negotiations on the armistice. Netanyahu’s government was angry with direct talks with Hamas earlier this year – which led to Hamas’s offer to release Alexander and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel is to a ceasefire deal. A few days later, Israel resumed the war.
Wittakov told the AP that Hamas’s goal in firing Alexander is to restart talks on a ceasefire, release the hostile hostages and high humanitarian aid in Gaza before Israel carried out a threatening Israel operation.
Khalil Al -Hayya, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, said that the group is in contact with the American administration during the past few days.
In a statement, Al -Hayia said that Hamas is ready to “start intensive negotiations immediately” to reach a final agreement to obtain a long -term truce, which includes an end to the war, and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages in Gaza and handing over power in Gaza to an independent group of technocrats.
The indirect talks between Hamas and the United States started five days ago, an Egyptian official and senior official in Hamas told the University of the Associated Press, where both Alexander’s release was described as a generous gesture.
A senior Hamas official, a spokesman, said, provided that his identity was not disclosed because he was not allowed to speak to the media, who is expected to be released Alexander on Monday. The official said that Hamas advised “to give President Trump and in return he will return one better.”
Another Hamas official, a speaker, said, provided that his identity was not disclosed to discuss the negotiations, that Alexander’s release was expected during the next 48 hours, adding that Israel requires the fighting for a few hours.
The Egyptian official in the ceasefire, and spoke, provided that his identity is not disclosed to discuss the talks, that Hamas received assurances from the Trump administration through Egyptian intermediaries and Qataris that Alexander’s release “will put all files on the negotiating table” including the end of the war.
Alexander’s parents did not immediately return the suspension requests.
Trump and Wittouf have often mentioned Alexander, by name, by name in the past few months. Witkev was traveling to the area on Monday before the expected release of Alexander.
“Every time they say the name of Edd, it seems as if they were not forgotten. They did not forget that he is American, and they are working on it,” said Edin’s mother, Yale Alexander, to Associated Press earlier this year.
His mother said Hamas released a video of Alexander in November during the weekend on Thanksgiving. She said the video was difficult to watch while crying and asked for help, but it was comfortable to see the last sign that he was alive.
Fifty nine hostages are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be alive. Most of the rest has been issued in the ceasefire or other deals. The hostage families Forum, the Grassroots Forum, which represents most of the hostages, said that the Alexander version “should be the beginning of a comprehensive agreement” that would liberate everyone.
Trump, whose administration has been fully supported by Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week in a regional tour.
The bombing continues
The Israeli strikes overnight to Sunday killed 15 people in Gaza, and most of them are women and children, according to local health officials.
Two Khayyam strikes in the southern city of Khan Yunis, where each of them killed two children and their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, who obtained the bodies. Seven other people were killed in strikes elsewhere, including a man and his child in the Gaza City neighborhood, according to hospitals and the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The Israeli army says it only targets the militants and tries to avoid harm to civilians. He blames Hamas for civil deaths in the 19 -month -old war because the militants are included in the densely populated areas.
Israel closed Gaza from all imports, including food, medicine and emergency shelter, for more than 10 weeks, as it says is the pressure tactic that aims to force Hamas to launch hostages. In March, Israel broke a ceasefire, which facilitated the firing of more than 30 hostages.
Relief groups say the humanitarian crisis is worse than any time in the war, with a decrease in food.
The war began when gunmen led by Hamas attacked in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, and took 251 hostages.
The Israeli attack killed more than 52,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which does not say the number of deaths from fighters or civilians. The attack destroyed vast areas of the region and explained about 90 % of its population.
Israel regains the remains of the soldier killed in Lebanon in 1982
In a separate development, Israel said it recovered the remains of a soldier who was killed in the 1982 battle in southern Lebanon after it was classified as missing for more than four decades.
The Israeli army said. Tzvi Feldman’s first -class remains of the depths of Syria were recovered, without providing more details.
Netanyahu visited the remaining brothers of Feldman and told them that the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al -Assad in late last year led to a “opportunity” that allowed the army and Mossad, the Foreign Intelligence Agency in Israel, to collect additional information and determine the location of the body, according to the video of his office.
Feldman, along with five other Israeli soldiers, disappeared in a battle with the Syrian forces in the Lebanese town of Sultan Yakoub.
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Maggie mentioned from Cairo and Miller from Washington. The Associated Press Bassem Bassem Mary in Beirut and Milani Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP war coverage on https://appnyws.com/hub/israel-hamas-war