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Freed Israeli-American Hostage Edan Alexander Leaves Gaza
People hold a picture and a sign with a picture of the Israeli-American hostage, Edan Alexander, who was kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
An Israeli-American hostage crossed into Israel on Monday after his release by Hamas as fighting paused in Gaza, the Israeli military said, but there was no deal on a wider truce or hostage release.
Israel‘s military said it had received Alexander after the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had facilitated his safe transfer from 19 months of captivity to Israeli authorities.
Alexander was the last American held by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and Israel‘s Channel 12 said his condition was “low” without citing a source.
Al Jazeera television showed a photograph of him standing next to masked fighters and a Red Cross official. Unlike in previous hostage releases, he was wearing civilian clothes.
As Israel prepared for the release of Alexander, hundreds gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where they waited anxiously for sight of the Israel-American dual national. Many of Alexander’s friends were present, as they stood, arms interlinked, with posters of the now-21-year-old in the air. As the first images of Red Cross vehicles receiving Alexander were broadcast in the public square many began to weep.
Supporters also gathered in Alexander’s hometown of Tenafly, New Jersey, to watch his release from captivity.
People watch a screen on the day Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who was kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, is released from captivity by Hamas in Gaza, in Alexander’s hometown of Tenafly, New Jersey, US, May 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Fighting halted at midday in Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would pause its operations to allow safe passage for the hostage release.
Hamas said it was freeing Alexander as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region this week.
“Edan Alexander, American hostage thought dead, to be released by Hamas. Great news!” Trump wrote in capital letters on his social media platform earlier in the day.
Netanyahu said Alexander’s release came thanks to his country’s military pressure in Gaza and political pressure exerted by Trump.
The Israeli leader said he spoke with Trump on Monday where the US president expressed commitment to Israel, according to a statement by Netanyahu’s office.
Netanyahu has said there will be no ceasefire and that plans to intensify military action in Gaza continue.
The release, after four-way talks between Hamas, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, could open the way to freeing the remaining 58 hostages held in the Gaza Strip, 19 months after Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Qatar and Egypt said Alexander’s release was an encouraging step towards new truce talks. Israel will send a delegation to Qatar on Thursday to discuss a new proposal aimed at securing further hostage releases, Netanyahu’s office said.
Netanyahu has insisted that Israel‘s planning for an expanded military campaign in Gaza will continue.
“Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind,” Netanyahu’s office said, adding that military pressure had forced Hamas into the release.
Trump is due to visit Gulf states on a trip that does not include a stop in Israel but special envoy Steve Witkoff, who helped arrange the release, was expected in Israel on Monday, two Israeli officials said.
Alexander’s family thanked Trump and Witkoff, saying in a statement that they hoped the decision would open the way for the release of the other remaining hostages.
“We urge the Israeli government and the negotiating teams: please don’t stop,” they said.
US officials have tried to calm fears in Israel of a growing distance between Israel and Trump, who last week announced an end to US bombing of Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who have continued to fire missiles at Israel.
Israel‘s government has drawn criticism over the deal to release Alexander, which laid bare the priority given to hostages able to rely on the support of a foreign government.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is among 21 hostages still believed to be alive, said Netanyahu was choosing his political survival over ending the war.
Addressing Trump in a statement she read with other hostage families, she said: “The Israeli people are behind you. End this war. Bring them all home.”
Netanyahu, who was due to testify in the latest session of his trial on corruption charges that he denies, has faced pressure from hardliners in his cabinet not to end the war.
Following a ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in Gaza for two months and allowed the exchange of 38 hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails, Israel resumed its military campaign in the enclave in March.
Since then, it has extended its control of the territory, clearing around a third of what it has described as a “security zone” and blocked off the entry of aid into Gaza, leaving the 2 million population increasingly short of food.
Experts and Israeli officials have long said that Hamas steals much of the aid to fuel its terrorist operations and sells some of the remainder to Gaza’s civilian population at an increased price. Jerusalem has also said that aid distribution cannot be left to international organizations, which it accuses of allowing Hamas to seize supplies intended for the civilian population.
Last week, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee outlined plans for a new system of aid deliveries by private contractors, but many details are unclear, including on funding.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday that humanitarian aid in Gaza needed to resume immediately. Herzog said the new aid mechanism would reach civilians, not Hamas, and urged the international community to help implement it.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their assault on Israel in October 2023. Israe responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas, which has ruled neighboring Gaza since 2007.
The post Freed Israeli-American Hostage Edan Alexander Leaves Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.