The Hamas statement on Sunday night does not say when the release will happen. The announcement comes shortly before US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East this week. Trump is not planning to visit Israel.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Netanyahu’s government was angered by US direct talks with Hamas earlier this year.
In a statement Al-Hayyah said that Hamas is ready to “immediately start intensive negotiations” to reach a final deal for a long-term truce which includes an end to the war, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages in Gaza and the handing over of power in Gaza to an independent body of technocrats.
Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff have frequently mentioned Alexander, now 21, by name in the past few months. Witkoff is expected to visit Israel in the coming hours.
Hamas released a video of Alexander in November during the Thanksgiving weekend, his favourite holiday, his mother said. The video was difficult to watch as he cried and pleaded for help, but it was a relief to see the most recent sign that he was alive, she said.
Fifty-nine hostages are still inside Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Two of the strikes hit tents in the southern city of Khan Younis, each killing two children and their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another seven people were killed in strikes elsewhere, including a man and his child in a Gaza City neighbourhood, according to hospitals and Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel has sealed Gaza off from all imports, including food, medicine and emergency shelter, for over 10 weeks in what it says is a pressure tactic aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages. Israel resumed its offensive in March, shattering a ceasefire that had facilitated the release of more than 30 hostages.
Children carrying empty bottles raced after a water tanker in a devastated area of northern Gaza on Sunday. Residents of the built-up Shati refugee camp said the water was brought by a charity from elsewhere in Gaza. Without it, they rely on wells that are salty and often polluted.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, says enough aid entered during a two-month ceasefire this year and that two of the three main water lines from Israel are still functioning.
Trump to visit the region
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory and displaced some 90% of its population of around 2 million.
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