Closing summary
It’s 11.15pm in Tel Aviv and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Gaza is at “critical risk of famine”, food security experts have warned, 10 weeks after Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel. Aid workers say prices for essentials had risen further in recent days, warehouses were empty and humanitarian teams treating malnourished children were being forced to divide rations.
Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander has returned to Israel after being released by Hamas. Alexander, a dual national serving in the Israel Defense Forces, spent 584 days in captivity and was the last living US citizen held in Gaza. Hamas said they had freed Alexander “following contacts with the US administration, to achieve a ceasefire, open crossings, and bring aid and relief to our people in Gaza”.
Edan Alexander’s release was welcomed in Israel and beyond. US president Donald Trump described it as a “good faith step” towards ending the war and bringing home all remaining hostages. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, thanked Trump for his role in Edan’s release but also claimed credit was due to Israeli forces and his own government’s military strategy. Relatives of hostages called for the Israeli government to push for a breakthrough to bring back 58 others still in Gaza.
Alexander’s release comes on the eve of Trump’s first trip to the region since his re-election, with Israel conspicuously missing from his itinerary, and after a series of blunt public snubs to the country’s leadership. Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, denied on Monday that the relationship with Israel’s most important ally was strained.
The Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) has declared it will disarm and disband after a call from its jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, earlier this year. The announcement by the Kurdish militant group, whose attacks and insurgency against Turkey have spanned more than four decades, will end decades of fighting will affect forces based near Turkey’s borders with Iraq and Iran, as well as allied or splinter groups in north-east Syria.
Al Jazeera can resume working in the Palestinian territories, the network’s Ramallah bureau chief said, after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas lifted a ban imposed earlier this year. Al Jazeera remains banned from broadcasting from Israel.
Israel has asked judges at the international criminal court (ICC) to withdraw arrest warrants against its prime minister and former defence minister while the ICC reviews Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction over the conduct of the Gaza war.
Updated
Netanyahu tells Israeli soldiers things 'you have never seen before' will happen in Gaza 'within days'
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told a meeting of wounded Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers that things “that you have never seen before” will “happen in Gaza” in the coming days.
In the meeting, reported by the Times of Israel, Netanyahu said:
Within days, things are going to happen in Gaza. Things will happen that you have never seen before until now.
The Israeli leader is also reported to have told soldiers that while he is “giving a chance” for the return of the hostages, if these efforts do not succeed, the fighting will be intense and “to the end”.
Footage has been released showing American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander reuniting with his family after 584 days in Hamas captivity.
Edan meets parents, sister & brother after 584 days. pic.twitter.com/7TyIB0kH8Q
— Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider) May 12, 2025
UN chief welcomes release of Edan Alexander
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, welcomed the release of American-Israeli national Edan Alexander from captivity and is “profoundly relieved” that he will be returning to his family and loved ones after this “harrowing” ordeal, his spokesperson said.
A statement from Stéphane Dujarric reads:
The Secretary-General renews his urgent call for an immediate permanent ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages. Hostages must be treated humanely and with dignity.
He calls on all parties to immediately ensure the rapid, unhindered, and safe humanitarian relief, including the delivery of critical services, for all civilians in need. Aid is not negotiable.
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff didn’t mince his words.
In a meeting late on Sunday with former hostages and relatives of those still held in Gaza, he told them Israel is drawing out a war the US wants to end, local media reported.
On the eve of the release of Edan Alexander, the last living American being held by Hamas, Witkoff spelt out the gulf between his boss and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Channel 12 Television, quoting sources who were present, Witkoff told the meeting:
We want to bring the hostages home, but Israel is not willing to end the war. Israel is prolonging it – despite the fact that we don’t see where else we can go and that an agreement must be reached.
It was the latest in a series of high-profile and high-stakes snubs from the White House which suggest that Israel’s most important ally is frustrated with its government – and possibly losing interest in its fortunes.
“Trump’s not against Israel, but he doesn’t care about Israel,” said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat.
As far as Trump is concerned, Netanyahu has become an irritant and an irritant that doesn’t contribute to the bank account.
Read the full analysis: Netanyahu must now work for support of US as Trump tires of Israel’s war in Gaza
Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel said it is “deeply moved” by the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, but said it showed that the lives of hostages without US citizenship are “worth less”.
A statement by the kibbutz reads:
It is hard to ignore the difficult message that the citizens of the State of Israel are receiving today, and which is being conveyed to the entire world: Our lives are worth less.
A hostage with an American passport is given priority, while the other 58 hostages are left behind — including 14 members of the Nir Oz community.
“Every hostage who returns is a great light in the darkness we are in,” the statement continues.
Updated
Al Jazeera can resume working in the Palestinian territories, the network’s Ramallah bureau chief said, after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas lifted a ban imposed earlier this year.
Waleed Omari, the bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Jerusalem and Ramallah, said in a statement on Monday:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to lift the ban on the Al Jazeera network and allow its crews to resume work in the Palestinian territories starting tomorrow morning.
The decision comes after Al Jazeera’s operations were halted in the Palestinian territories in January, after the Palestinian Authority (PA) accused the network of “inciting material”.
At the time of the channel’s suspension, PA security forces had been engaged in weeks of deadly clashes with militant fighters in the Jenin camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Al Jazeera remains banned from broadcasting from Israel.
'You are safe': Edan Alexander speaks to his mother after release
A clip showing US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander speaking to his mother following his release from Hamas captivity has been shared on social media.
In the clip, Yael Alexander is heard telling her son:
You are strong. You are safe. You are home. We’ll see each other soon. I love you,
Edan Alexander’s mom takes the phone from White House envoy @SteveWitkoff and speaks to her son after he was released. Watch here: pic.twitter.com/VhGKCRJZ9y
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 12, 2025
The Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) has announced it will disarm and disband, after a call from its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan earlier this year.
Leaders of the militia group, which is regarded as a terrorist organisation in Turkey, the UK and the US, said their armed insurgency had “brought the Kurdish issue to the point of resolution through democratic politics, and in this regard the PKK has completed its historical mission.”
The announcement that the militia will end decades of fighting will affect forces based near Turkey’s borders with Iraq and Iran, as well as allied or splinter groups in north-east Syria.
Despite the PKK announcement of a “new phase”, the decision to disarm and dissolve appeared to be unilateral, with few public indications about authorities in Ankara offering dialogue.
The decision follows months of outreach to Kurdish political leaders in Turkey by the nationalist politician Devlet Bahçeli, a coalition partner of the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party (AKP). Erdoğan welcomed the PKK’s decision, saying:
With terror and violence being completely disengaged, the doors of a new era in every area, namely strengthening politics and democratic capacity, will be opened.
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog said he watched “with great emotion” the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander “from darkness to light”.
“Welcome home, Edan. We waited for you so long,” Herzog wrote in a post on X.
He said he watched Alexander’s release with Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz. Herzog added:
I send a huge hug to your heroic parents, incredible grandmother, and your entire family.
Merz welcomed Herzog for a meeting in Berlin earlier today, and noted that the Israeli president is the first foreign leader he has hosted since taking office last week.
Herzog is scheduled to be hosted by German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a state dinner this evening, then return to Israel tomorrow morning.
Gaza is at “critical risk of famine”, food security experts have warned, 10 weeks after Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel.
In its most recent report, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said on Monday there had been a “major deterioration” in the food security situation in Gaza since its last assessment in October 2024 and that Palestinians living there faced “a critical risk of famine”.
The IPC, a consortium of independent specialists tasked by the UN and international NGOs with assessing the risk of famine in crises worldwide, said:
Goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks. The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people – one in five – facing starvation.
Aid workers in Gaza told the Guardian that prices for essentials had risen further in recent days, warehouses were empty and humanitarian teams treating malnourished children were being forced to divide rations designed for one between two patients to give both a chance of survival.
Jonathan Crickx, a spokesperson for Unicef speaking from southern Gaza, said:
The stocks we brought in during the [two-month-long] ceasefire are running very low. We have treated more than 11,000 children since the beginning of the year … In coming weeks, we fear we will see more children dying.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it welcomes the release of Edan Alexander after 584 days of captivity.
A statement from the group reads:
We embrace you, Edan, and are so glad you are home. We hope your return is the beginning of a comprehensive agreement that is needed to bring all 58 hostages home.
Updated
Netanyahu credits military pressure and US diplomacy for Edan Alexander's release
Benjamin Netanyahu has credited the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander to Israeli military pressure and “political pressure” from the US president, Donald Trump.
Netanyahu, in a video statement published by his office, said:
This is a very emotional moment – Edan Alexander has come home. We embrace him, and we embrace his family. This was achieved thanks to our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by President Trump. This is a winning combination.
The Israeli prime minister added that he had spoken with Trump, who reaffirmed his commitment to Israel and promised to work “in close cooperation” to release the remaining hostages and defeat Hamas.
Edan Alexander arrives at IDF facility for medical assessment
Edan Alexander, the Israeli-American hostage who was released earlier today, has arrived at an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) facility near the border community of Re’im in southern Israel.
An IDF statement says Alexander will undergo an initial physical and mental checkup and be reunited with his family after he was escorted out of Gaza by Israeli troops.
His father, Adi Alexander, was taken by an Israeli air force helicopter to Re’im shortly after arriving in the country from the US, the Times of Israel reports, citing an Israeli defence official.
His mother arrived at the Re’im base earlier today.
Updated
Gaza is at “critical risk of famine”, food security experts have warned, 10 weeks after Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel.
In its most recent report, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said on Monday there had been a “major deterioration” in the food security situation in Gaza since its last assessment in October 2024 and that Palestinians living there faced “a critical risk of famine”.
“Goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks. The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people – one in five – facing starvation,” said the IPC, a consortium of independent specialists tasked by the UN and international NGOs with assessing the risk of famine in crises worldwide.
Israel imposed its strict blockade in early March, after the end of the first phase of a supposed three-phase ceasefire. Just over two weeks later, a new wave of attacks by the Israeli military definitively ended the truce.
US president Donald Trump has said he is considering lifting sanctions on Syria, following the UK’s lead, which removed some of its own sanctions in late April.
Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Trump said he was mulling the move after Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, raised the issue.
Trump said: “We may take them off of Syria, because we want to give them a fresh start.”
He added: “President Erdogan’s asked me about that, many people have asked me about that because the way we have them sanctioned doesn’t really them much of a start. We want to see if we can help them out.”
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, visited Paris last week, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, who similarly voiced his support for lifting EU-wide sanctions on the new government.
After their meeting, Macron said that if al-Sharaa “continues on his path” and guarantees were provided that international funds would be used appropriately, France would push for the lifting of European sanctions and lobby Trump to do the same.
Edan Alexander safely handed to Israeli forces
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has confirmed that it “facilitated the safe transfer of a hostage from Gaza to Israeli authorities”.
Reuters reported that the Israeli military also confirmed receiving the US-Israeli citizen hostage Edan Alexander.
Updated
Donald Trump defended his decision to accept the gift of a plane from Qatar at a press conference on Monday.
“They’re giving us a free jet,” said the US president, “I could say no, no, no, don’t give us, I wanna pay you $1bn or $400m or whatever it is, or I could say thank you very much.”
Updated
The White House is unveiling an aggressive drug pricing strategy targeting pharmaceutical companies, promising to dramatically cut prescription drug costs for American consumers.
Donald Trump condemned the current pricing system as a “redistribution” that has allowed drugmakers to exploit US patients, saying he will sign an executive order that would match lower drug prices abroad.
“We are subsidizing others’ healthcare, where they paid a small fraction of what we pay,” the president said in a press conference on Monday, flanked by health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and centers for Medicare and Medicaid services administrator Mehmet Oz.
“Even though the United States is home to only 4% of the world’s population, pharmaceutical companies make more than two-thirds of their profits in America,” Trump said. “That’s not a good thing.”
Examples Trump pointed to included how a single breast cancer drug costs $16,000 in the US, but just $1,600 in Australia, and how the weight loss drug Ozempic costs 10 times more in the US than in other developed countries.
“We’re no longer paying 10 times more than another country,” he said.
People react as they gather watching a live stream on a big screen reporting on the release of Israeli-American soldier hostage Edan Alexander, in hostages square outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel …
Donald Trump said 21-year-old Edan Alexander, who was kidnapped from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, was “coming home to his parents”.
Edan Alexander has been released by Hamas
US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander has been released and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to reports.
Reuters has been told by sources familiar with the case that the hostage was handed over by Hamas’ armed wing.
Earlier, it was reported that Alexander was en route to Israeli territory via the Kissufim border crossing with Gaza.
Updated
Trump hopes 'other hostages' will be released
More from the news conference with US President Trump.
Speaking about the imminent release of hostage Edan Alexander, Trump said he hopes “other hostages” will be released.
Meanwhile, sources have told Reuters that Alexander is “en route to Israeli territory through [the] Kissufim crossing with Gaza”.
We have more comments from US President Donald Trump on the expected release of hostage Edan Alexander today.
Trump said that the US-Israeli citizen was expected to be released by Hamas in the “next two hours” or “sometime today”, the Associated Press reports.
“He’s coming home to his parents, which is really great news,” Trump told reporters at the White House shortly before he was scheduled to depart for a visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump credited his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in helping secure the release of Alexander, 21.
The president said that Witkoff, a New York real estate developer turned diplomat, knew “very little about the subject matter” but learned quickly.
“He has a special way about him,” Trump said of Witkoff.
Updated
Neytanyahu thanks Trump for help securing hostage release
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump on Monday for helping to secure the expected release of a US-Israeli hostage from Gaza, which Hamas has said was part of direct contact with the Americans.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that in a phone call, he “thanked President Trump for his assistance in the release of (Israeli military) soldier Edan Alexander”, a 21-year-old who has been held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
Updated
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
US President Donald Trump has said Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander is to be freed in “about two hours”, Agence France-Presse reports.
Updated
Netanyahu to send Gaza negotiators to hostage talks in Qatar
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would send mediators to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss the release of hostages held in Gaza after Hamas announced the release of US-Israeli Edan Alexander.
Following a meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff and ambassador Mike Huckabee, “the Prime Minister instructed to send a negotiation delegation to Doha tomorrow”, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Monday.
World must act to avert Gaza famine now, demands ActionAid
The charity ActionAid has said the announcement that the entire Gaza strip is at high risk of collapsing in famine “is a stain on humanity’s conscience”.
Referring to the IPC snapshot released today, ActionAid said:
Our colleagues, partners and the women and girls we work with in Gaza tell us that the food situation is already utterly catastrophic and that even finding one meal a day is increasingly difficult. Thousands of children are being treated for acute malnutrition and at least 57 people have reportedly starved to death since the total blockade started. The Palestinian Authority has already declared the strip to be in famine.
The charity added there was “nothing inevitable” about the crisis, adding:
The Israeli authorities could decide right now to open up the borders and let the life-saving aid that is ready and waiting to be delivered in.
The international community must wake up to the severity of the situation and do everything in its power to pressure them to do so. We need urgent action to stop any more people starving to death, and a permanent end to the war, now – the alternative is unthinkable.
Palestinians wait in long queues to receive pots of food distributed by charitable organisations in Gaza City.
The war on Hamas must not stop and aid should not be let into Gaza, Israel’s far right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Monday, amid speculation in Israel that a deal to release a US-Israeli hostage could lead to a new ceasefire.
In broadcast remarks from the Israeli parliament, Ben-Gvir said defeating Hamas was the top goal of the war and the only way for Israel to return its hostages from Gaza.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
An Israeli official discussing the release of hostage Edan Alexander said he “will be transferred by a special unit to the initial reception facility in Re’im” near the Gaza border in southern Israel”.
The official, who requested anonymity, added that Alexander would “receive initial medical and psychological care” from army medical professionals before reuniting with his family, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
“Edan Alexander’s family members will wait for him at the initial reception facility... and afterwards, they will be airlifted together with Edan to continue his treatment at Ichilov Hospital” in Tel Aviv, the official said.
“Edan Alexander’s return will follow the same procedure used in previous hostage returns,” the Israeli official said.
This would involve “a transfer from the Red Cross to a special (Israeli army) unit, through the initial reception facility in Re’im, and from there an air transfer to the hospital for continued treatment”, he said.
A Hamas source told AFP that mediators informed the group that Israel would pause military operations for the handover of the 21-year-old soldier.
A source close to the militant group told AFP that Hamas had decided not to hold a public ceremony for the handover, as it had for previous hostage releases.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog called on the international community to help with its new plan to distribute aid directly to the people of Gaza and cut out the Palestinian group Hamas from the process, Reuters reports.
“What Israel has offered, in order to prevent Hamas from controlling (humanitarian aid) distribution ... is a new mechanism which will enable the distribution of aid directly to the people of Gaza,” Herzog said at an event in Berlin.
“We call upon the international community, international NGOs and the UN to study the plan in depth and join us,” he said, speaking alongside German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who called for the immediate resumption of aid to Gaza, which Israel has halted since the beginning of March.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said it had sold all of its shares in Israel’s Paz Retail and Energy because the company owns and operates infrastructure supplying fuel to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Reuters reports.
The divestment, announced on Sunday, was the second of its kind by the fund after its ethics watchdog in August adopted a tougher interpretation of standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
California State students protest aid blockade in Gaza with hunger strike
by Cy Neff
Around two dozen California State University students began a hunger strike last week to protest starvation in Gaza due to Israel’s aid blockade, marking the latest act of political protest on college campuses.
The strikers – students from San Jose State, Sacramento State, San Francisco State and CSU Long Beach – began their fast on 5 May
“We, the students of San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach, and San Jose State Universities, are beginning a united hunger strike in solidarity with the two million Palestinians at risk of starvation in Gaza,” Students for Justice in Palestine wrote in a press release. They are also pushing the university system to divest from weapons manufacturers, among other stated goals.
The hunger strikes come as Israel’s aid blockade in Gaza passes its second month, and is facing mounting international criticism for the millions of Palestinians pushed toward famine, as well as Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich’s, recent assertion that “Gaza will be entirely destroyed.”
Read the full report here:
Humanitarian organisation CARE International UK has said the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza is “shameful”.
Responding to the latest IPC snapshot, revealing Palestinians are still facing “a critical risk of famine”, Jolien Veldwijk, country director for CARE International in Palestine, said:
It is unconscionable that this man-made situation will see Palestinians across Gaza – many of whom are already skin and bones – face the gruelling fate of slow, painful starvation and the shadow of death from hunger.
He added:
After more than 18 months of ever-deepening suffering in Gaza and two months of total siege we urge the international community to exhaust every effort to secure an immediate and lasting ceasefire and a return of the hostages. To prevent continued starvation and further death, Israel must allow humanitarian aid to flow at scale, safely and unhindered into and throughout Gaza.
Helen McEachern, CEO of CARE International UK, said:
The ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza is shameful. The UK cannot stand by and watch as people starve – Palestinians are already dying daily from hunger as food rots in warehouses just over the border. This cruelty cannot and must not continue – neither should the UK’s support. The UK Government must now stop all arms sales to Israel. How long must Palestinians wait for Governments like the UK to stop fuelling this war?
Food security experts warn Gaza is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn't end its blockade
Food security experts say the Gaza Strip is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
The latest snapshot from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, says outright famine is the mostly likely scenario unless conditions change, the Associated Press reports.
The IPC snapshot says:
The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people (one in five) facing starvation.
It adds that another million are at “emergency” levels of hunger.
The IPC added that this marks a “significant deterioration” compared to the previous IPC analysis (released in October 2024) and the already dire conditions detected between 1 April and 10 May 2025.
Israel has banned any food, shelter, medicine or other goods from entering the Palestinian territory for the past 10 weeks, even as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations.
Updated
At least 29 Palestinians have been killed and 94 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Four bodies of people killed in previous Israeli attacks were also recovered over the past day, it added, Al Jazeera reports.
Israel asks ICC judges to withdraw Netanyahu arrest warrant
Israel has asked judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to withdraw arrest warrants against its prime minister and former defence minister while the ICC reviews Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction over the conduct of the Gaza war, Reuters reports.
Documents published on the ICC website late on Sunday also show Israel has asked the court to order the prosecution to suspend its investigation into alleged atrocity crimes in the Palestinian Territories.
The documents are dated 9 May and signed by Israeli deputy attorney general Gilad Noam.
The ICC issued arrest warrants on 21 November for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief Yoav Gallant, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
The ICC said in February that judges had withdrawn the arrest warrant for al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, following credible reports of his death.
Israel, which rejects the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza, is contesting the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant
Fighting will pause to allow for Edan Alexander’s safe passage, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, a day after Israel was told of Hamas’ decision to free the last surviving US hostage in Gaza as a goodwill gesture to President Donald Trump.
The release, after four-way talks between Hamas, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, could open the way to freeing the remaining 59 hostages held in the Gaza Strip, 19 months after Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Reuters reports.
But Netanyahu said Israel had agreed only to allow safe passage for Alexander, and its forces would continue recently announced preparations to step up operations there.
Israeli jets continued to pound Gaza before the expected release, killing at least 16 people sheltering in a school housing displaced families in Jabalia, local health authorities said.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan says Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has landed in Israel, Al Jazeera reports.
Kan added that Witkoff is expected to meet Edan Alexander following his release and will speak with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
An Israeli official said that President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is expected in Israel on Monday and would meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet to discuss nuclear talks with Iran and efforts to free more hostages.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press in line with regulations.
Edan Alexander due to be released by Hamas
Edan Alexander, the Israeli-American soldier who was kidnapped on 7 October 2023, is expected to be released today.
Alexander was born in Israel but raised in the US by Israeli parents. He moved to Israel in 2022 after graduating from high school and enlisted in the Israeli military.
His parents and two younger siblings still live in Tenafly, New Jersey.
Alexander was snatched from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’ attack on 7 October 2023.
His expected release would be the first since Israel shattered an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas in March when it unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza, which have killed hundreds, the Associated Press reports.
Updated
Here are some photographs coming to us over the wires of Palestinians inspecting the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The relatives of Israeli hostages have welcomed the announcement that Hamas are to free an American-Israeli hostage – but there is also unease, the Associated Press reports.
Some have said Edan Alexander was singled out for freedom because of his American citizenship.
“Trump is rescuing him. Who will rescue Gali and Ziv?,” Maccabit Mayer, the aunt of sibling hostages Gali and Ziv Berman, told Israeli Army Radio on Monday, referring to US President Trump. She said she was sorry the twin brothers don’t have “the right citizenship.”
The family of Edan Alexander has called on Israel to release all of the remaining hostages “without delay”, in a message relayed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“No hostage must be left behind,” the family said.
Updated
Israeli strike on school used as shelter kills 16, mostly women and children, after Hamas agrees to release last living American hostage in Gaza
An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the Gaza Strip killed at least 16 people early on Monday, mostly women and children, according to local health officials.
At least five children and four women were among those killed in the strike on a school in the Jabaliya area, the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service said. It also said that a number of people were wounded, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
It comes after Hamas announced on Sunday that it would release the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American soldier who was kidnapped on 7 October 2023, a move that key Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt called an encouraging step towards a return to ceasefire talks.
US president Donald Trump confirmed the news in a social media post, writing that Alexander, 21, “is coming home to his family”. Trump is heading to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week.
In other news:
Relatives of Israeli hostages welcomed the announcement that an American-Israeli hostage would be freed by Hamas but there remain fears over the fate of the other 23 living and roughly 35 dead captives who remain in Gaza.
Israel has not agreed to any ceasefire or release of prisoners with Hamas, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, ahead of the expected release of Edan Alexander.
Netanyahu said Israel had only agreed to allow safe passage for Alexander and its forces would continue recently announced preparations to step up operations there. “The negotiations will continue under fire, during preparations for an intensification of the fighting,” his office said.
Israel’s blockade on food and other supplies entering Gaza is now in its third month, and hospitals are unable to provide food. Aid groups say malnutrition is on the rise across Gaza. Food distributions have ended and charity kitchens are rapidly closing. Markets are empty of almost everything but canned goods and small amounts of vegetables, and prices have been rising.
