Trump: ‘US Hostage To Be Released By Hamas’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Edan Alexander, an American citizen “who until recently most thought was no longer living,” will be released later on Monday, U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced.
Trump addressed the release of 21-year-old Alexander, who served as an Israeli soldier, during a press conference, adding that “according to all assessments, they thought Idan was dead, and he will be released alive in two hours.”
He said that his Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, “did a fantastic job. He has a lot of talent. He has a special personality. He will be released in two hours or sometime today.”
The president stressed, “His parents are happy, they are very happy.”
Trump noticed that Alexander “has been held captive since 1an 0/7 and he’s coming home to his parents, this is big news,” referring to the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas against Israel, when some 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
Alexander was abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza from a tiny military outpost near the border with Gaza. “They thought he was dead,” Trump said.
His release comes amid ongoing US efforts to establish a sense of stability in the region and normalize relations between Israel and several Arab nations. “We will travel to the region and visit three countries – Saudi Arabia, [United Arab Emirates] UAE, and Qatar,” Trump stressed.
IDF PREPARATIONS
Separately, an Israeli security official said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “is preparing for the transfer and return of kidnapped soldier Idan Alexander from the Khan Younis area” in the southern Gaza Strip, starting at 18:30, local time, adding that the timing may change.
Hamas said earlier that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, whose first name is also spelled as Idan in Israel, will be released within 48 hours as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire.
Additionally, Hamas seeks to “reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded” territory and resume the delivery of aid.
The announcement of the first hostage release since Israel resumed battling Hamas in March comes shortly before Trump visits the Middle East this week.
Observers said it showed Israel’s closest ally trying to inject momentum into ceasefire talks for the 19-month war as desperation grows among hostages’ families and Gaza’s more than 2 million people over the ongoing Hamas-Israel war.
Israel’s government has made clear it seeks to destroy Hamas, viewed as a terrorist organization by the Jewish nation and most of its allies.
Monday’s release ends an agonizing ordeal for Alexander, an American Israeli dual citizen who grew up in Tenafly in the U.S. State of New Jersey.
JOINING MILITARY
In 2022, during his senior year of high school, he joined Garin Tzabar, which prepares youngsters from around the world to join the IDF, according to sources familiar with the situation.
He then moved to Israel to serve in the military after he graduated and was assigned to the infantry. Alexander was stationed near the border with Gaza in September 2023, shortly before his abduction. Last year, Hamas released a video of him, adding to more anxiety among his loved ones.
An American Israeli friend of Alexander, Omer Neutra, who was serving in the same unit, was also taken by Hamas. In December, the White House announced that Neutra was killed on October 7 and that Hamas had been holding his remains since the attack. He was 21.
Yet Alexander’s parents, Adi and Yael Alexander, who were born in Israel and have two other children, did not give up hope. They relentlessly campaigned for his freedom, meeting with officials and speaking at rallies.
“We live in agony each day that passes without our son,” his parents wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times newspaper in September after the discovery of the body of another hostage, the Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
On Sunday, the Alexanders reportedly traveled to Israel with Trump administration officials. In a statement, the family called his coming return “the greatest gift imaginable.”
They also urged Israel’s government to negotiate the release of the remaining captives, saying, “No hostage should be left behind.”
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