Hamas Releases American Hostage

May 12th, 2025

Lindsey Zhao

A year and a half after his capture by Hamas fighters, Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander will finally be returning to America, creating a new hope for a lasting ceasefire opportunity. Indeed, as the war between Israel and Hamas has defied repeated ceasefires, both sides—and the Gazan families stuck in the crossfire—are eager for an end to the fighting…as long as it's on their own terms.

The last ceasefire, stretching from January 19th to March 18th earlier this year, ended after an intense wave of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. Since then, fighting has resumed, with more than 1,000 Palestinian deaths between the end of the ceasefire and now. The continuation of Israel’s blockade has meant that no food, water, medicine, or fuel has been able to enter Gaza. At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death, and more than 9,000 children have been admitted to the hospital for acute malnutrition since the beginning of 2025. At the beginning of May, the director of Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah said in a statement that they had only a week of medical supplies remaining, with “acute shortages in more than 75 percent of essential medicines.” While Hamas has argued that Israel is purposefully wielding the blockade as a “weapon of war,” Israel claims that they are merely a “pressure lever” to get hostages home. (Language is powerful!)

Hopes for a ceasefire appeared to dim even further earlier in May, when the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip long-term and relocate Gaza’s population elsewhere. They also proposed taking over any future humanitarian aid distribution into the Gaza Strip, a controversial plan among humanitarian agencies. They have threatened a major military offensive into Gaza unless Hamas turns over the remaining hostages. 59 hostages remain in Gaza, but only about 20 of them are believed to be alive.

Thankfully, earlier this week, Hamas said it would release the last living American hostage in their custody, 21-year-old dual US national Edan Alexander, who was captured on Oct. 7 2023 on his border base. He was safely returned to the US earlier on Monday. Their announcement, considered a potential gesture of goodwill and a sign of positive progress towards a successful ceasefire negotiation, was welcomed by Qatar, Egypt, and the US, who are leading current peace talks. It has also been seen as an effort to gain favor with President Donald Trump, who is visiting the Middle East later this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump have been in growing disagreement over key security issues, including the idea of joint military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear abilities and proxy organizations—Trump recently restarted nuclear talks with Iran and reached an agreement to halt fighting with the Houthis in the Red Sea. Hamas may be looking for a way to exploit that division and get President Trump further on the side of peace. While Netanyahu said that the freeing of Alexander would lead to further hostage negotiations, he also said that negotiations will be continued at the same time as fighting.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was "grateful to all those involved in making this monumental news happen." Yet, as President Trump also cautioned, this was just one of the first steps necessary to “end this brutal conflict.”