{"id":42153,"date":"2025-05-12T01:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T06:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=42153"},"modified":"2025-05-12T03:17:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T08:17:54","slug":"israeli-american-hostage-edan-alexander-to-be-released-monday-hamas-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=42153","title":{"rendered":"Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander to be released Monday, Hamas says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hamas<\/a> said early Monday that it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander<\/a>, who is believed to be the last living U.S. citizen<\/a> held captive in Gaza by the Palestinian militant group, in the coming hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Al-Qassam Brigades<\/a> have decided to release the captive Zionist soldier who holds American citizenship, \u201cIdan Alexander,\u201d today, Monday, May 12, 2025,\u201d a Hamas spokesperson said in a brief statement early Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamas had previously suggested<\/a> such a release would be a signal of goodwill as part of \u201cthe steps being taken to achieve a ceasefire, open the crossings, and allow aid<\/a>\u201d into the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If successful, the release will come the day before President Donald Trump<\/a> is set to travel to the Middle East<\/a> in a trip that is expected to intensify efforts to bring a pause to Israel’s sweeping military offensive<\/a> in Gaza, from which aid has been cut off<\/a> for several weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump’s trip is not expected to include a stop in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> said in a statement Monday that it was only committing to a safe corridor to allow Alexander\u2019s release, rather than any ceasefire or release of Palestinian prisoners or detainees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are in critical days, during which Hamas has a proposal before it that would allow for the release of our hostages,\u201d the statement said, adding, \u201cNegotiations will continue under fire and alongside preparations to intensify the fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli security cabinet last week approved a plan<\/a> to capture the entire enclave under which more than 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza would be \u201cmoved\u201d out of the strip as Israel\u2019s military launched operations to defeat Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander, 21, was born and raised in New Jersey and was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured<\/a> by Hamas during its terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023<\/a>, along with around 250 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli officials say 1,200 people were killed during the Hamas-led attacks, which marked a\u00a0major escalation<\/a>\u00a0in a decadeslong conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 51,000 people have been killed in the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip since then, according to health officials in the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander is one of at least 59 hostages remaining in Gaza<\/a>, according to Israeli officials, although less than half are believed to be alive. His family confirmed in a statement Sunday that it was expecting his release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hamas said early Monday that it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who is believed to be the last living U.S. citizen held captive in Gaza by the Palestinian militant group, in the coming hours. \u201cThe Al-Qassam Brigades have decided to release the captive Zionist soldier who holds American citizenship, \u201cIdan Alexander,\u201d today, Monday, May 12, 2025,\u201d a Hamas spokesperson said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":42154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1341,3659,23174],"class_list":["post-42153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-american","tag-hostage","tag-israeli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42155,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42153\/revisions\/42155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}