From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 14, 2025
Report: Families of Edan Alexander, slain dual national hostages haven’t been notified of any changes following Hamas announcement
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAfter Hamas announced that it was willing to release US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander and return the bodies of four slain dual nationals, Channel 12 reports, without citing any sources, that neither Alexander’s family nor the families of the unnamed slain hostages have been notified of anything new.
The report also recalls that Israel’s decision-makers have vowed since the October 7, 2023, attack, that they will not favor hostages with dual citizenship in its negotiations over those without.
There have, however, been instances where other countries have stepped in to negotiate for their hostage citizens. In particular, Russia negotiated separately from Israel for the release of three Russian-Israeli dual nationals during the weeklong true in November 2023.
Channel 12 also reports, again without citing any sources, that Hamas’s announcement appears to suggest the terror group has chosen to adopt a proposal presented by US hostage envoy Adam Boehler during unprecedented direct talks last week, rather than pursue the outline presented by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Doha earlier this week.
Witkoff’s proposal is said to provide for five living and 10 dead hostages to be returned to Israel by Hamas, in exchange for extending the ceasefire in Gaza for a further 42-50 days.
However, Channel 12 says Israel feels the number of living hostages is too low, and has demanded eight living hostages, instead.
The Times of Israel Community.