Hamas says ready to free Israeli-US hostage, remains of four other dual nationals

By AFP - Mar 14,2025 - Last updated at Mar 14,2025

A Palestinian boy picks flowers close to the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on March 11, 2025 (AFP photo)

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories - Hamas on Friday said it is ready to free an Israeli-American hostage and the remains of four other dual nationals, after the Palestinian militants and Israel gathered for indirect Gaza ceasefire talks.

"Yesterday, a Hamas leadership delegation received a proposal from the brotherly mediators to resume negotiations," the Islamist movement said in a statement which added its reply "included its agreement to release the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, along with the remains of four others holding dual citizenship."

Hundreds of Jewish demonstrators overran New York's Trump Tower Thursday in support of the Palestinians and detained Palestinian student campaigner Mahmoud Khalil.

They protested for over an hour at the Manhattan landmark where Trump memorably road down a golden escalator in 2015 to announce his first run for president, revealing matching red T-shirts emblazoned "Jews say stop arming Israel."

Police said they arrested 98 people, marching under the banner of the group called Jewish Voice for Peace, for crimes including trespassing.

The group, which apparently caught security and police off guard, chanted "fight Nazis, not students," a reference to Trump's crackdown on foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests.

Police loaded detained protesters onto buses, including a repurposed city bus, in front of the Gucci store at the foot of the tower as a helicopter and drone flew overheard.

Officers arrested Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil at the weekend, accusing him of harboring pro-Hamas views during protests at New York's Columbia University against Israel's war in Gaza in retaliation for the Palestinian group's attack in Israel.

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