From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 12, 2025
Israel found out about US efforts to release Alexander via unofficial sources, days before Trump administration confirmed
Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
Israel became aware on Friday, through unofficial sources, that the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander was likely to occur in the coming days, The Times of Israel has learned. The Trump administration then formally notified Jerusalem on Sunday of the arrangement with Hamas to release the dual national.
Yesterday, a source familiar with the effort to free Alexander told The Times of Israel that the US did not brief Israel on the effort to release Alexander until after Hamas had given its final approval to release the 21-year-old.
Israel was generally aware that efforts were ongoing, but only knew about them from its own intelligence operations, the source said yesterday.
The Times of Israel Community.