No connection between release of Edan Alexander and entry of Gaza aid, say officials

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, right, and freed hostage Edan Alexander, second right, speak by phone to US President Donald Trump, alongside Alexander's family from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center on May 13, 2025. (Office of the Special Envoy to the Middle East/X)
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, right, and freed hostage Edan Alexander, second right, speak by phone to US President Donald Trump, alongside Alexander's family from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center on May 13, 2025. (Office of the Special Envoy to the Middle East/X)

A senior US official and a Palestinian official familiar with the hostage negotiations flatly deny reports that Hamas’s release of Edan Alexander last week was tied to Israel’s acquiescence to allow aid into Gaza.

“This was a goodwill gesture. The release was unconditional,” the US official says.

Hamas did hope that the move would lead to the US coaxing Israel to end the war and allow aid into Gaza, but that was not a condition of his release, the Palestinian official says.

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