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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Monday, May 12, 2025

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Released hostage Edan Alexander, center, reunites with his parents at an IDF base near Re'im, May 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Live updates (closed)

May 12: US envoy hopes Alexander’s release marks ‘beginning of end to this terrible war’

After call with Trump and meeting with Witkoff, Netanyahu to send delegation to Tuesday’s Doha hostage talks * Alexander said to suffer severe torture in captivity, was kept in cage

8:48 pm

Health Ministry official says she's 'very concerned' about condition of remaining hostages
8:22 pm

Israel found out about US efforts to release Alexander via unofficial sources, days before Trump administration confirmed
7:43 pm

Syria welcomes Trump's suggestion that he could soon lift sanctions

Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of Edan Alexander, holds a picture of her grandson near the border with the Gaza Strip on April 20, 2025. (Lior Rotstein/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

US envoys, Alexander's parents fly to Israel before release

Hamas set to free US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander Monday in goodwill gesture to Trump

By Jacob Magid, Nurit Yohanan, Shira Silkoff, Nava Freiberg and ToI Staff

Israel wasn’t told in advance about release; Hamas hoping US will now coax Jerusalem to end war in exchange for all hostages; Trump hails potential step toward ending ‘this brutal conflict’

IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published on May 11, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF said to limit Gaza operations ahead of Edan Alexander release, but no truce

By Emanuel Fabian, ToI Staff and Agencies

Protesters dressed in white attend a silent protest calling for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on May 11, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Lapid: 'A disgraceful failure of diplomacy'

For families, joy, despair, frustration over release of hostage Edan Alexander

Families decry government for being left out of loop of talks; Netanyahu’s office: Israel has committed to safe corridor for Alexander’s release, but not to truce

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ExclusiveWitkoff updated Netanyahu and Dermer on Sunday

Backchannel helped secure release of American-Israeli hostage, sources tell ToI

Witkoff was kept in loop about talks 3rd-party mediator held with Hamas that managed to convince the terror group to free the 21-year-old unconditionally after weeks of pushback

A protester holds up a cutout of Edan Alexander's face at a rally calling for the release of the hostages, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, March 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Varda Ben Baruch holds an image of her grandson, hostage Edan Alexander, in Jerusalem on October 25, 2023. (Yuri CORTEZ / AFP)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing May 12: Day 584 – Backstory behind US hostage Edan Alexander’s release

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Jacob Magid

US President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he leaves the West Wing of the White House, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mark Schiefelbein)

Netanyahu insists ties with Trump are ‘excellent’ amid reports of growing rift

By Nava Freiberg and ToI Staff

Witkoff said to tell hostage families Israel pointlessly extending war, US urging deal

By ToI Staff, Nava Freiberg and Jacob Magid

Envoy’s reported disagreement with Israel’s plans adds to mounting reports of discord between Trump administration and Netanyahu’s government, which both sides have denied

L: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Tel Aviv District Court on April 9, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90); R: US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff outside the White House on March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, May 11, 2025. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

In Israel, German FM says Gaza war cannot be solved by ‘military means,’ urges deal

By Nava Freiberg and Agencies

Palestinians jostle for position to get a hot meal, in front of a distribution point at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 10, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Sa’ar backs newly announced ‘US aid plan’ to bypass Hamas in Gaza

By Nava Freiberg, Jacob Magid and Agencies

Palestinians take part in a protest in support of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, in the West Bank city of Hebron on April 17, 2025. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Stipends end for 1,600 prisoners as PA moves forward with pay-to-slay reform — sources

By Nurit Yohanan and Jacob Magid

Development comes weeks after Ramallah invited Trump administration to come to West Bank and certify that new welfare system in place

Illustrative: Israeli troops are seen south of Hebron in the West Bank, on April 18, 2025. (Wisam Hashlamoun/ FLASH90)

Army reservist reportedly jailed for refusing to serve in West Bank, Gaza

Give me shelter?

I’m not saying bomb shelters are luxurious or loads of fun, but being protected by one is far better than not visiting Israel when you want to

Eliyahu Freedman

An Israeli journalist’s healing journey

Others had it worse, so who was I to need help? But I too felt panic and grief; I too bore witness to atrocities; I too have trauma

Left: US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Paris, France, April 17, 2025. (Ludovic Marin, Pool Photo via AP); Right: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. (Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool Photo via AP)

Tehran says 4th round of nuclear talks difficult, while US ‘encouraged’

By AFP, Nava Freiberg and ToI Staff

Three-hour meeting focuses on enrichment; sides plan to meet again; FM Sa’ar says US and Israel agree on need to dismantle enrichment sites

Inside story

Israelis again isolated as airlines stay away: What will it take to woo them back?

Aviation experts are doubtful foreign carriers will resume flight services soon, unless the government restores confidence and amends cancellation compensation terms

View of the Ben Gurion International Airport, May 4, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa listens during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 7, 2025. (Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via AP)

Trump Tower Damascus? Syria seeks to charm US president for sanctions relief

By Timour Azhari and Humeyra Pamuk

With Gulf help, Sharaa launches bid to get face time with Trump during his Mideast visit, with a pitch that includes a detente with Israel and US access to Syria’s oil and gas

US President Donald Trump welcomes Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the White House, July 9, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump defends prospect of Qatar potentially gifting him a plane to use as Air Force One

By Zeke Miller and Will Weissert

A large fire and plume of smoke is visible in the port city of Hodeida, Yemen, September 29, 2024, after Israeli strikes on the Houthi-controlled city. (AP Photo/ File)

IDF issues ‘urgent’ evacuation warning for three Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen

By Emanuel Fabian

No immediate reports of Israeli strikes; military calls for civilians to stay away from ports ‘until further notice’

Pope Leo XIV appears at the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

In first Sunday blessing, Pope Leo XIV calls for Gaza ceasefire, release of hostages

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Pontiff also calls for humanitarian aid to ‘exhausted civilian population’ in Strip; urges ‘genuine, just, and lasting peace’ in Ukraine, welcomes India-Pakistan truce

Nine-justice panel at the High Court of Justice hearing petitions demanding the immediate conscription of ultra-Orthodox young men to the Israel Defense Forces, June 2, 2024 (Screen grab)

Government backs bill to remove High Court chief’s power to assign cases to justices

By Sam Sokol and Jeremy Sharon

Continuation of efforts to restrain the judiciary on the part of the coalition ‘significantly affects the democratic nature’ of Israel, says AG’s office

Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, representing Israel with the song, 'New Day Will Rise,' walks on the turquoise carpet next to the Basel Town Hall, with protesters' Palestinian flags behind, during the opening ceremony of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, on May 11, 2025. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Israel’s Yuval Raphael and her team met by protests, threat as Eurovision week kicks off

By Amy Spiro, AFP and ToI Staff

Kan files police complaint after man makes throat-slitting gesture and spits at Israeli delegation; Palestinians flags fly as participants walk ‘turquoise carpet’ to open contest

Rosa de Jong, left, and Lilly Duijm pose in front of the boxes of documents from the archive in Paramaribo, Suriname, May 2, 2025. (Oscar Keur/AP)

Dutch-led preservation team digitizes Jewish history of Caribbean’s Suriname

‘This is keeping the history of my people,’ says local woman who has been responsible for archive of 100,000 documents and is now assisting in digital preservation effort

A visitor takes a photo at the Museum of Survivors, located in a factory where Oskar Schindler saved some 1,200 Jews during WWII, in Brnenec, Czech Republic, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Museum opens at former Czech factory where Oskar Schindler saved 1,200 Jews

By Karel Janicek

Nazi documentation found in boxes stored at the basement of the Justice Palace, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 11, 2025. (Handout / ARGENTINA'S SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE / AFP)

Nazi material seized by Argentina in World War II found in top court’s basement

Michal Harel and her husband Avital Epstein show the website they set up to help Israelis navigate a move to Canada in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, December 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rob Gillies)

'We needed to come here. Now I can breathe again'

Israelis fleeing post-Oct. 7 instability receive warm welcome from Jews in chilly Toronto

By Robert Sarner

Even as antisemitism is on the rise in Canada, war-weary sabras are flocking to Toronto, where its large Jewish and Israeli communities are rolling out the welcome wagon

Jewish group exposes antisemitic posts of Quebec med school applicants and students

More Headlines

Policemen stand guard at a market in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, May 12, 2025. (Basit Zargar/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters)

After days of heavy firefights, calm reported along India-Pakistan border

A man holds a portrait of Abdullah Ocalan, Turkish-jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), next to a bonfire during a gathering for Nowruz celebrations marking the New Year of the Persian calendar and the first day of spring, in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on March 21, 2025. (Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)

Kurdish PKK group will disband and disarm as part of peace initiative with Turkey

Assuta Medical Center in Rishon Lezion. (Screen capture: Google Maps)

Supreme Court rules birth parents of child born in IVF mix-up are legal parents

By Jeremy Sharon

This frame grab from video posted online January 18, 2019, by supporters of the Islamic State group, purports to show a gun-mounted Islamic State group vehicle firing at members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, Syria. (Militant Photo via AP)

Qatar and FBI find remains of 30 people believed killed by Islamic State in Syria

By AP and ToI Staff

Iranian filmmaker and activist Sepideh Farsi looks at a portrait of the Palestinian photographer Fatima Hassouna, during a photo session at her home in Paris on May 5, 2025. (JOEL SAGET / AFP)

Film about Gaza photojournalist premieres at Cannes this week after her death in airstrike

By Agencies and ToI Staff

A Paz gas station in Tel Aviv, November 28, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

World’s largest wealth fund divests from Israel’s Paz over gas stations in West Bank

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Released hostage Emily Damari celebrates with hundreds of fans outside the soccer stadium of Tottenham Hotspurs in London, May 11, 2025. (Embassy of Israel in the UK/ Pomi Ofir Tal)

Spurring her onTottenham soccer fans welcome ex-hostage Emily Damari to stadium

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) along with then-industry and science minister Ed Husic (L) and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns attend the funeral of Pakistani security guard Faraz Tahir at Baitul Huda mosque in Sydney on April 26, 2024. (Saeed KHAN / AFP)

Australian PM drops Israel critic from cabinet in post-election reshuffle

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