Hamas to release hostage as part of direct Gaza talks with US
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Ms Varda Ben Baruch pointing at a portrait of her grandson, Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, one of the hostages taken by Hamas, at a gathering in southern Israel on April 20.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO – Hamas said it would release a US-Israeli hostage held in Gaza as the group revealed it was engaged in direct talks with the United States towards a ceasefire in the war-battered territory.
The Palestinian militant group said in a statement that “Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, a dual US national, will be released as part of efforts towards a ceasefire” and the reopening of aid crossings.
Family members of the 21-year-old soldier said they had been informed that he might be released “in the coming days”.
US President Donald Trump hailed the “monumental news” in a post on social media, describing it as a “good-faith gesture”.
“Hopefully, this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict,” he added.
In a joint statement, Egypt and Qatar, which along with the US have mediated talks between Hamas and Israel, welcomed the development as “a gesture of goodwill and an encouraging step towards a return to the negotiating table”.
Earlier, two Hamas officials told AFP that talks were ongoing in the Qatari capital of Doha with the US and reported that “progress” had been made.
Israeli strikes, meanwhile, continued, with Gaza’s civil defence agency reporting that at least 12 people were killed
One Hamas official, speaking of the talks with the US, said there was “progress made... notably on the entry of aid to the Gaza Strip” and the potential exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
A second official also reported progress “on the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip”.
Israel again vowed to keep fighting despite the talks.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that any future “negotiations will take place under fire with a commitment to achieving all the objectives of the war”.
Post-war administration
Gaza militants hold 58 hostages seized during Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel ended the last ceasefire, which lasted two months, on March 18, launching a major offensive in Gaza and ramping up its bombardment of the territory.
People with posters of Israeli soldier Edan Alexander demanding the release of all Gaza hostages on April 13 in a rally in Jerusalem.
PHOTO: REUTERS
It has also cut off all aid to Gaza, saying it would pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, have taken place from the early months of the war without bringing it to an end.
Washington had for decades refused publicly to engage directly with Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organisation, before first doing so in March.
Hamas has continued to insist on a deal that ends the war and, on April 18, rejected an Israeli proposal for a 45-day truce and hostage-prisoner exchange.
In its statement on May 11, the group said it was willing to “immediately begin intensive negotiations” that could lead to an agreement to end the war and would see Gaza under a technocratic and independent administration.
“This will ensure calm and stability for many years, along with reconstruction and the end of the blockade,” Hamas said.
Earlier in May, the Israeli government approved plans to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence there.
Aid plan
Despite the talks, the war in the devastated Palestinian territory has raged on.
Mr Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the civil defence agency, told AFP that Israeli jets had hit three tents housing displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis.
AFP footage showed rescuers working in the dark, evacuating a wounded baby from the site of the strike as well as two bodies, one of them in a white plastic bag and another wrapped in a blanket.
A separate strike on Khan Younis killed three people, Mr Bassal said, while another was killed in Gaza City.
The Israeli military did not comment on any specific incidents, but said its air force had struck “more than 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip” since May 10.
While ceasefire negotiations have yet to produce a breakthrough, Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on May 11 “fully” endorsed a US plan to restore aid to Gaza, which has been under a complete blockade since March 2.
The plan has drawn hefty international criticism for sidelining the United Nations and existing aid organisations, with the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, saying it was “impossible” to replace it in Gaza.
Hamas’ 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on May 11 that at least 2,720 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,829. AFP
