Hamas to release final US hostage Edan Alexander
Hamas said it would free the last known living American hostage held in Gaza, days before US President Donald Trump is set to visit the region. Follow updates.
Middle East
Don't miss out on the headlines from Middle East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hamas said it would free the last known living American hostage held in Gaza, days before US President Donald Trump is set to visit the region.
“Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, a dual US national, will be released as part of efforts towards a ceasefire” and the reopening of aid crossings, the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.
The family of 21-year-old Alexander said they had been informed that he might be released “in the coming days”.
In a statement shared by the Families and Missing Families Forum campaign group, the family said it had been informed of the announcement and was “in constant communication with the US administration about his expected release in the coming days”.
Mr Trump this week will embark on the first foreign trip of his second administration with a tour of the Middle East.
FOLLOW BELOW FOR UPDATES:
STRIKE KILLS CHILDREN
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed at least 12 people, including young children, mostly in the south of the besieged Palestinian territory.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli fighter jets hit three tents overnight where dozens of displaced people were sheltering in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
“Eight people, including four children aged two to five and two women” were killed, Bassal said.
AFP footage showed rescuers working in the dark, evacuating a wounded baby from the site of the strike as well as two bodies, one of them in a white plastic bag and another wrapped in a blanket.
A separate strike on Khan Yunis later on Sunday killed three people, Bassal said.
One person was killed and three others wounded when a group of civilians came under attack in Gaza City, in the north, he added.
Bassal also said the Israeli military destroyed five houses with explosives in the east of Gaza City and fired artillery at the Abassa area east of Khan Yunis, without reporting any casualties.
The Israeli military did not comment on specific incidents but said its air force had struck “more than 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip” since Saturday.
Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce in the war, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that at least 2,720 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,829.
STAR’S DAUGHTER ARRESTED IN ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS
The daughter of Oscar-nominated actress Maggie Gyllenhaal was arrested during anti-Israel protests at Columbia University in New York, according to reports.
Ramona Sarsgaard, 18, who is a student at Columbia College, was slapped with a desk appearance ticket for criminal trespassing, the sources told the New York Post.
The actress’s daughter – who Gyllenhaal shares with husband Peter Sarsgaard – was one of nearly 80 agitators arrested while storming the university’s Butler Library earlier this week as students prepared for final exams.
At least two school safety officers were injured in the melee, officials said.
The elite university had handed down at least 65 interim suspensions to students who were part of the chaos, pending further investigation, a school official said.
It’s unclear if Sarsgaard was one of those suspended.
Video obtained by The New York Post showed a line of protesters led out in zip ties by police and onto waiting police buses following the ruckus, which started when demonstrators shoved past a security guard at the library’s front entrance, disrupting focused students.
Once inside, they draped large signs over bookshelves, scrawled “Columbia Will Burn” on a glass case inside the library, and marked tables with coloured tape.
Another 33 individuals, including those from affiliated institutions, and an unspecified number of alumni, were also barred from campus, the official said – as Columbia faced public pressure to take strong action against protesters.
Little is known about Sarsgaard’s personal life. She follows in the footsteps of her famous mother, who reportedly graduated from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in English literature before appearing in dozens of films including the 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight opposite Heath Ledger.
She has been nominated for two Academy Awards – for Best Supporting Actress in 2010 for her role in the film Crazy Heart and separately in the Best Adapted Screenplay category in 2021 for her writing on The Lost Daughter.
US, IRAN TO HOLD NUCLEAR TALKS
The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear talks on Sunday local time in Oman, officials said, just ahead of Mr Trump’s visit to the region.
Mr Trump, who will visit three other Gulf Arab monarchies next week, has voiced hope for reaching a deal with Tehran to avert an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear program that could ignite a wider war.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Oman, which has been mediating, had proposed Sunday as the date and both sides had accepted.
“Negotiations are moving ahead and naturally, the more we advance, the more consultations we have, and the more time the delegations need to examine the issues,” he said in a video carried by Iranian media.
“But what’s important is that we are moving forward so that we gradually get into the details,” Mr Araghchi said.
Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s friend who has served as his globetrotting negotiator, will take part in the talks, the fourth since Mr Trump returned to the White House, according to a source familiar with arrangements.
“As in the past, we expect both direct and indirect discussions,” the person said on condition of anonymity.
Iranian and US representatives voiced optimism after the previous talks that took place in Oman and Rome, saying there was a friendly atmosphere despite the two countries’ four decades of enmity.
But the two sides are not believed to have gone into technical detail, and basic questions remain.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted that Iran give up all uranium enrichment, even for civilian purposes. He has instead raised the possibility of Iran importing enriched uranium for any civilian energy.
Mr Witkoff initially voiced more flexibility before backtracking.
– with AFP
More Coverage
Originally published as Hamas to release final US hostage Edan Alexander
US, Israel discuss possible US-led administration for Gaza: sources
The US and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza as the UN warned about the “annihilation” of the area. Follow updates.
WATCH: Shocking aftermath of port explosion
Dramatic drone footage has captured the scale of the destruction after a massive explosion at Iran’s largest port. Watch the video.