Hamas reports: will release the last surviving hostage with US citizenship

Hamas announced on Sunday that he would release the Israeli-American hostage Edana Alexander As part of the efforts to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza, the BBC reports.

The 21-year-old soldier is the last living hostage of American nationality located in the Gaza area.

The decision came after a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the Palestinian armed group had directly negotiated with an official of the US administration in Qatar.

The senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations said it was a sign of goodwill before President Donald Trump arrives in the Middle East on Tuesday.

Born in Tel Aviv and raised New Jersey, Alexander served in an elite infantry unit on the border with Gaza when Hamas’ militants abducted him on October 7, 2023. Of the 251 hostages abducted during Hamas’s attack, 59 are still in Gaza and alive is considered another 24. It is believed that there are five US nationals in Gaza and that Alexander is the only one of them alive.

Photo: Amir Cohen/Reuters

Hamas announced that his release was part of the effort to achieve a truce and to allow food entry, medicines and other supplies to Gaza. The group said she wanted to achieve the final agreement on the end of the war.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced that he had now informed him about the intention of Hamas to let Alexander « as a gesture to the Americans, » but expects the move to take the agreement on the release of all the remaining hostages.