DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) 鈥 Hamas on Monday released an Israeli-American soldier who had been held hostage in Gaza for more than 19 months, offering a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire with Israel.
, 21, was the first hostage released since Israel in March and unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds of Palestinians.
He was handed over to the Red Cross and then to Israeli forces before being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Tel Aviv. Israeli authorities released video and photos showing a pale but smiling Alexander in an emotional reunion with his mother and other family members.
Israel has promised to , including by seizing Gaza and displacing much of the territory’s population again. Days before the ceasefire ended, Israel blocked all imports from entering the Palestinian enclave, and sparking if the blockade isn鈥檛 lifted. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement on Israel鈥檚 terms.
Wearing shirts emblazoned with his name, Alexander’s extended family gathered in Tel Aviv to watch the release. They chanted his name when the military said he was free, while in the city’s Hostage Square, hundreds of people .
Alexander’s grandmother, Varda Ben Baruch, beamed. She said her grandson looked mostly all right in the first photo of him after nearly 600 days in captivity.
鈥淗e seemed like a man. He has really matured,鈥 she said. Reports that Alexander cracked a joke on the phone while speaking to his mother for the first time did not surprise her. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got such a sense of humor,鈥 she said.
Alexander was 19 when he was taken from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza.
In his hometown of Tenafly, New Jersey, hundreds of supporters packed the streets, holding signs with his image and listening to speakers blasting Israeli music. As they watched the news of his release on a large screen, the crowd hugged and waved Israeli flags. Since he was taken hostage, supporters there gathered every Friday to march for the hostages鈥 release.
Israel says 58 hostages remain in captivity, with about 23 of them said to be alive. Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 2023 attack were freed in ceasefire deals.
Trump calls expected release 鈥榟opefully鈥 a step toward ending war
Hamas announced its intention to release Alexander shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump was set to arrive Tuesday in the Middle East on the first official foreign trip of his second term.
Trump on Sunday called the planned release 鈥渁 step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators 鈥 Qatar and Egypt 鈥 to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones.鈥
鈥淗opefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!鈥 Trump said on social media.
Trump, who is traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is not scheduled to stop in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday with the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, and discussed efforts to release the remaining hostages, his office said.
Netanyahu “directed that a negotiations team leave for Doha tomorrow,鈥 the prime minister’s office said, adding that Netanyahu 鈥渕ade it clear that the negotiations would only take place under fire.鈥
Netanyahu said Alexander’s release 鈥渨as achieved thanks to our military pressure and the diplomatic pressure applied by President Trump. This is a winning combination.鈥
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of hostages, welcomed the news that an Israeli delegation was headed to the Qatari capital for talks.
鈥淧rime Minister Netanyahu, the ball is in your court,” the group said in a statement after Alexander was released. It urged the prime minister to announce that he was ready to negotiate a deal for the return of all remaining hostages and end the war.
“Don鈥檛 miss this historic opportunity facing the State of Israel. Prove to the Israeli public and President Trump that you are willing to take a regional initiative that transcends narrow political considerations,鈥 the group said.
Israel says it still plans to escalate its offensiv
e
On Monday, a statement from Netanyahu’s office said Israel did not make any concessions for Alexander鈥檚 release and had only agreed to create a 鈥渟afe corridor鈥 to allow Alexander to be returned.
It said Israel would carry on with plans to ramp up its offensive in Gaza. Israel says it won’t launch that plan until after Trump’s visit to the Middle East, to allow for a potential new ceasefire deal to emerge.
Early Tuesday, an Israeli strike hit the surgery department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Officials at the hospital said three people were killed and 10 injured.
The Israeli military said it had precisely struck Hamas militants operating from within a command and control center at the hospital.
Netanyahu faces criticism for not freeing all hostages
Alexander’s release created a backlash against Netanyahu, whom critics accuse of having to rely on a foreign leader to help free the remaining hostages.
At the opening of his trial on corruption allegations, where he is giving testimony, a woman in the courtroom asked whether he was 鈥渁shamed that the president of the United States is saving his citizens, and he is leaving them to die there in captivity.鈥
Critics assert that Netanyahu’s insistence on keeping up the war in Gaza is politically motivated. Netanyahu says he aims to achieve Israel’s goals of freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in the 2023 attack. Israel鈥檚 retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.
Israel’s offensive has obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
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