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There was joy in Israel yesterday as Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American hostage held by Hamas, reunited with his family after 584 days in captivity.
Alexander, 21, was transferred to IDF troops by the Red Cross in southern Gaza before being flown to Tel Aviv for medical checks and to see his relatives.
Alexander was not released as part of the Israel–Hamas hostage negotiations but through a parallel track between Washington and Hamas.
Israel was informed only after Hamas had approved the handover. The move is being interpreted by some as a sign of Trump’s exasperation with the pace of the Israeli process.
His family have since confirmed that he will not, as previously reported, fly to Qatar to meet US President Trump. Instead, the pair will speak over the phone before the former hostage travels to the White House at a later date.
Alexander grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, and moved to Israel where he joined the army. After going free, his first call was with his mother, Yael. “You are strong. You are safe. You are home. We’ll see each other soon. I love you,” she told him. Later, at Sourasky Hospital in Tel Aviv, he hugged his grandmother and told her that he saw her on the news while he was in Gaza.
Alexander was abducted from an IDF post near Kibbutz Nirim on October 7, 2023. He was reportedly held in a Hamas tunnel, tortured, and kept handcuffed in a cage.
After his release, he wrote on a whiteboard aboard an IDF helicopter: “Thank you President Trump!!! Am Yisrael Chai!!! Onward Golani 51 [his IDF unit].”
In Tenafly, there were celebrations with hundreds waving Israeli flags and chanting his name. In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, there were loud cheers to celebrate his freedom. Alexander was the last American hostage known to be alive in Gaza.
Families of the remaining 58 hostages welcomed Alexander’s return but voiced unease. “A hostage with an American passport is given priority, while the other 58 hostages are left behind,” Kibbutz Nir Oz said in a statement.
Elsewhere, Israel’s destruction of homes in Gaza is likely to prompt emigration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told members of the Knesset. “They have nowhere to return,” he said, according to a Maariv report based on leaked remarks from the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
“We are destroying more and more homes; they have nowhere to return. The only inevitable result will be a desire by the Gazans to emigrate out of the Strip,” he reportedly said. “Our main problem is with countries that will receive them.”
He also reportedly said Palestinians receiving humanitarian aid would not be allowed to return to their original neighbourhoods, claiming they are “mixed with Hamas operatives”. That condition contradicts explanations previously given to the committee by the IDF, National Security Council, and COGAT.
Netanyahu apparently added that the US is expressing interest in Gaza’s post-war status but stated: “We are not currently talking about Israeli settlement in the Strip.” MK Limor Son Har-Melech replied: “Bring the Jews of the United States.”
Meanwhile, Israel struck Hamas operatives inside Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital yesterday, claiming the compound was used as a command centre. Hamas sources reported casualties.
In Lebanon, UN peacekeepers revealed they have uncovered some 225 Hezbollah weapons caches, including rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles. This gives weight to concerns that Hezbollah is violating UN rules by storing weapons in banned areas, and added pressure on Israel to act.
Israel asked the International Criminal Court to withdraw arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant and to suspend its war crimes probe while judges review Israeli challenges to the court’s jurisdiction over actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
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