The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced tonight, after talks with US officials about a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, that it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who has been captured in the Palestinian territory since the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.
"Edan Alexander will be released as part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire, open the crossings and allow aid and support to enter our people" in the Gaza Strip, Hamas said, without specifying a date for the release.
Hamas added that it is "ready to immediately begin intensive negotiations and make serious efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war, exchange prisoners (Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners) and ensure the administration of the Gaza Strip by an independent expert body, with the aim of ensuring the maintenance of peace and stability for many years, in addition to reconstruction and ending the siege."
Alexander (21) was captured in an attack on October 7th while serving in an elite unit near Gaza.
Of the 251 people kidnapped in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who have been declared dead by the Israeli military.
Hamas announced on March 14 that it had accepted a mediator's proposal to release a live American-Israeli hostage and hand over the bodies of four dual-national hostages who died in captivity in Gaza.
Hamas did not announce at the time when the release of soldier Adan Alexander and the handover of the four bodies would take place.
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