Hamas says it has agreed to release US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, bodies of 4 slain dual nationals

Hamas in an official statement says it has agreed to a proposal to release hostage soldier Edan Alexander, who is a US citizen, as well as the bodies of four other slain captives who are dual nationals.

Alexander is a soldier who was stationed near the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7 when he was taken captive by Hamas.

Hamas does not provide the names of the four slain dual nationals.

The terror group says it “affirms its complete readiness to initiate negotiations and reach a comprehensive agreement on the issues of the second phase while calling for the occupation (Israel) to fully implement its obligations.”

The Hamas statement indicates that the terror group has accepted a proposal thot was discussed during direct talks with US hostage envoy Adam Boehler, which had been held in recent weeks.

Those talks infuriated Jerusalem, which wasn’t fully kept in the loop, didn’t like that Boehler was discussing Israeli concessions without its knowledge and feared it would lead Washington to abandon the remaining Israeli hostages after such a deal was reached.

But Boehler’s remit is specifically to try and free American hostages worldwide and his effort was approved by US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff when the main track of negotiations was stuck due to Israel’s refusal to accept the terms of the current deal’s second phase.

There hadn’t appeared to have been a breakthrough in Boehler’s direct talks — which ended after Israel learned about them and leaked their existence to the media, according to two US officials — and the hostage negotiations had returned to their original channel led by Witkoff with mediation from Qatar and Egypt in Doha.

Hamas’s decision to suddenly accept a proposal to release the American hostages points to an attempt to divide the US and Israel by daring Jerusalem to deny an opportunity to free American hostages.