Trump had called the planned release “a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators – Qatar and Egypt – to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones.”
“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!” Trump said on social media.
Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander was abducted and taken to Gaza on October 7, 2023.Credit: AP
Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but is not scheduled to stop in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Monday to discuss the release the remaining hostages, his office said.
“To this end, Prime Minister Netanyahu directed that a negotiations team leave for Doha tomorrow,” the prime minister’s office said, adding that Netanyahu had “made it clear that the negotiations would only take place under fire.”
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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing relatives of hostages, welcomed the news that an Israeli delegation was headed to Doha for talks.
“While Edan Alexander’s release gives us hope, all 58 of our loved ones must come home. Time is running out. These negotiations must bring everyone back,” the group said in a statement. “Trump’s plan offers a real path to freeing all hostages immediately. Every passing day puts their lives at greater risk. We cannot wait any longer.”
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said Israel was not granting any concessions for Alexander’s release.
The statement said Israel did not commit to a ceasefire or the freeing of Palestinian prisoners as part of the release and that it had only agreed to create a “safe corridor” to allow for Alexander to be returned.
The statement said Israel would carry on with plans to ramp up its offensive in Gaza. Israel says it won’t launch that plan until after Trump’s visit to the Middle East, to allow for a potential new ceasefire deal to emerge.
Hamas-led militants killed 1200 people in the 2023 attack. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.
Israel’s offensive has obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90 per cent of the population, often multiple times.
AP
