In negotiations that excluded Israel, Hamas agreed with the U.S. to release the last remaining U.S. hostage, Israeli-American Edan Alexander, as a goodwill gesture. Alexander was released at noon today, local time. Hamas said that the gesture is “part of the efforts to reach a ceasefire.” The AP reported a senior Hamas official saying that they had been advised to, “give a gift to President Trump and in return he will give back a better one.” Trump said Alexander’s release was part of a larger effort to end the war and return all hostages, as officials spoke of a “window of opportunity” for a larger deal.
Yesterday, both Al Jazeera and Reuters reported, citing a Palestinian Arab source, that there were direct talks between the Trump Administration and Hamas regarding a ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Today, President Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, along with U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the matter of returning to the Witkoff framework. Previously, Netanyahu had interrupted that framework with a decision to blackmail Gaza with starvation of the civilian population. Witkoff had been trying to free about half of the remaining hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire of some 40 days, with food and aid allowed into Gaza—and that effort was after Netanyahu had walked away from the January arrangement to negotiate for a full end to the fighting. Witkoff had told hostage families, according to yesterday’s report by Israel’s Channel 12: “We want to bring the hostages home, but Israel is not willing to end the war. Israel is prolonging it....” So, the present pattern has been to starve Gaza for months at a time, trade hostages for a few weeks of aid, then resume the starvation and killing.
