Hamas releases US hostage Edan Alexander, IDF continues operations in Gaza

On May 12, Hamas released Edan Alexander, one of 59 hostages still held in Gaza and the last living American hostage held by the terrorist group. Four other Americans who are presumed deceased are also held by Hamas. Alexander, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), was kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel while serving with the Golani Infantry Brigade on the border. He was held in Gaza for 484 days.

Envoys from the Trump administration pushed for Alexander to be released over the last several months. He was not included in the ceasefire deal agreed to in January 2025, which saw 33 hostages freed. That deal was meant to include several phases, but Hamas and Israel could not agree on the second phase, and the agreement expired on March 1. The IDF began a new offensive in Gaza on March 18.

Hamas said on March 14 that it might release Alexander and four other people who have dual nationalities. This total referred to the four other Americans held in Gaza, all of whom are presumed deceased: Judi Weinstein Haggai and her husband, Gad Haggai, and Omer Neutra and Itay Chen, both IDF soldiers.

The deal to release Alexander was announced on May 11. It came a week after Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a plan for an expanded operation in Gaza that is expected to see the IDF occupy parts of the territory long-term and establish a new humanitarian aid mechanism. The decision also happened as US President Donald Trump headed to the region for meetings in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Hamas reportedly resorted to backchannels to the Trump administration in late April to rekindle talks about the release of Alexander. “The US has informed Israel of Hamas’s intention to release soldier Edan Alexander as a gesture to the Americans, without conditions or anything in exchange,” Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said on May 11.

Alexander was released in the late afternoon of May 12 in an area of Khan Younis. He was handed over to the Red Cross and then to the IDF, which transported him in a convoy to Reim base near Gaza. There, Alexander met with members of his family, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Envoy for Hostage Releases Adam Boehler before flying by helicopter to a hospital in central Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Netanyahu’s office said on May 12. “The Prime Minister then spoke with US President Donald Trump and thanked him for the assistance in the release of IDF soldier Edan Alexander,” Netanyahu’s office said, further commenting that the release was possible “due to the vigorous policy that we have led with the backing of President Trump, and thanks to the military pressure of IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip.”

The Alexander release comes amid potential major changes in Gaza. The US is preparing for an initiative that will see humanitarian aid enter the territory, Huckabee said on May 9. “It is going to require the partnership not only of governments, but of NGOs, charitable organizations, nonprofits from around the world,” he added. The aid will be distributed initially from points in southern Gaza secured by private security contractors. If a new deal is not signed with Hamas to release more hostages, Israel envisions a major offensive that will move civilians to southern Gaza, where they will receive aid.

The IDF continues military operations in Gaza. On May 13, Israel targeted Hamas’s Gaza leader, Mohammed Sinwar, in a large airstrike in Khan Younis. It was one of two precision strikes on hospitals used by Hamas in 24 hours.

First, on May 12, the IDF said it “precisely struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating from within a command and control center located in the ‘Nasser’ hospital in Khan Yunis. The compound was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.” The second strike happened just before sunset on May 12. The Israeli military said it targeted a “command and control center located in an underground terrorist infrastructure site beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.”

Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).