Israeli legislators pass budget in a move that shores up Netanyahu's government

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s parliament on Tuesday passed a state budget, a move that shores up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition even as the embattled leader faces mounting public pressure over the war in Gaza and the hostage crisis.

The budget vote was seen as a key test for Netanyahu’s coalition, which is made up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties that had demanded and largely received hefty allocations for their constituents in exchange for supporting the funding package.

Failure to pass a budget by March 31 would have triggered early elections, potentially threatening Netanyahu's nearly unbroken 15-year rule.

Critics say the budget lacks much needed wartime funding for secular education, health and welfare. They accuse Netanyahu of channeling funding to his political allies to ensure his survival rather than thinking of the country’s best interests.

“The greatest theft in the country’s history officially begins,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday, ahead of an hours-long, marathon debate in parliament on the budget. He said the middle class, including many reservists who have been fighting in Gaza, was being trampled for the sake of the coalition’s survival.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key Netanyahu ally, said the budget had “everything needed to win on the front and at home.”

With its passing, Netanyahu's government is more likely to survive to the end of its term in October 2026, a rarity in Israel's fractious politics. It’s a political win for Netanyahu, who faces mass protests over his decision to resume the war in Gaza while hostages are still held by Hamas, and over his government’s recent moves to fire top legal and security chiefs.

In theory, Netanyahu now has more freedom to negotiate a lasting ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. His allies, who want to continue the war, have little incentive to trigger new elections while their polling numbers are down, said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

But she expects Netanyahu to stick with his coalition partners and further their ultranationalist agenda to galvanize the right ahead of any future vote.

“Netanyahu is always thinking about the next elections,” Talshir said. “His goal is to make sure the extreme right will be in his government now and in the future.”

Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, faces mass protests in Israel over his return to war, with 59 captives, 24 of whom are said to be alive, still in Gaza.

Demonstrators are also angry over Netanyahu’s firing of the head of the internal Shin Bet security agency and his government’s push to fire the attorney general. Both moves are seen by opponents as part of the government’s attempt to undermine state institutions and as part of Netanyahu’s crusade against a “deep state” that he says is out to get him.

Ahead of the budget vote, anti-government protests erupted outside the Knesset and police scuffled with demonstrators who blocked the entrances to the parliament.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Police officers remove people as they block a road for the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest after the Israeli cabinet passed a no-confidence vote against the country's attorney general, taking a first step toward her dismissal, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli servicemen remove people as they block a road for the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest after the Israeli cabinet passed a no-confidence vote against the country's attorney general, taking a first step toward her dismissal, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli police officers disperse demonstrators as they block a road leading to the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest ahead of a key vote on the state budget in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli police officers disperse demonstrators as they block a road leading to the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest ahead of a key vote on the state budget in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

In this image made from a video released by the Israeli Government Press Office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Israeli Government Press Office via AP)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas says it has released Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel.

Hamas said it was releasing Alexander as a goodwill gesture to try to revive talks on ending the war. The release comes ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An American-Israeli soldier held hostage for more than 19 months in the Gaza Strip is expected to be released Monday, Hamas said, in a goodwill gesture for the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire with Israel.

Edan Alexander was taken from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza. His release would be the first since Israel shattered an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas in March, unleashing fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds.

Israel has promised to intensify its offensive, including by seizing the territory and displacing much of its population again. Days before the ceasefire ended, Israel blocked all imports from entering the Palestinian enclave, deepening a humanitarian crisis and sparking warnings about the risk of famine if the blockade isn't lifted. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement on Israel's terms.

Israel says 59 hostages including Alexander remain in captivity, with about 24 of them said to be alive. Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 2023 attack were freed in ceasefire deals.

An Israeli official said Hamas was expected to release Alexander at around 6:30 p.m. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Another Israeli official said Red Cross representatives were heading toward Khan Younis for the handover. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation.

Television footage showed Alexander’s mother, Yael Alexander, arriving at the Reim military base in southern Israel, where her son was expected to be taken first.

Alexander’s grandmother, Varda Ben Baruch, said she had barely been able to sleep and had baked Edan’s favorite foods, some of which she sent to the military base.

Hamas on Sunday announced its intention to release Alexander, shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump is set to arrive Tuesday in the Middle East on the first official foreign trip of his second term.

Trump on Sunday called the planned release “a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones.”

“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!” Trump said on social media.

Trump, who is traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is not scheduled to stop in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday with the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, and discussed efforts to release the remaining hostages, his office said.

“To this end, Prime Minister Netanyahu directed that a negotiations team leave for Doha tomorrow,” the prime minister's office said, adding that Netanyahu had “made it clear that the negotiations would only take place under fire.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing relatives of hostages, welcomed the news that an Israeli delegation was headed to Doha for talks.

“While Edan Alexander’s release gives us hope, all 58 of our loved ones must come home. Time is running out. These negotiations must bring everyone back,” the group said in a statement. “Trump’s plan offers a real path to freeing all hostages immediately. Every passing day puts their lives at greater risk. We cannot wait any longer."

On Monday, a statement from Netanyahu's office said Israel was not granting any concessions for Alexander’s release.

The statement said Israel did not commit to a ceasefire or the freeing of Palestinian prisoners as part of the release and that it had only agreed to create a “safe corridor” to allow for Alexander to be returned.

The statement said Israel would carry on with plans to ramp up its offensive in Gaza. Israel says it won't launch that plan until after Trump's visit to the Middle East, to allow for a potential new ceasefire deal to emerge.

A statement by the office on Sunday said the U.S. had told Israel that Alexander's release could lead to a new deal with Hamas to free more hostages.

Israel’s involvement in Alexander's expected release wasn’t immediately clear. But it created a backlash against Netanyahu, with critics accusing him of having to rely on a foreign leader to help free the remaining hostages.

At the opening of his trial for alleged corruption, where he is giving testimony, a woman in the courtroom asked whether he was “ashamed that the president of the United States is saving his citizens, and he is leaving them to die there in captivity.”

Critics assert that Netanyahu's insistence on keeping up the war in Gaza is politically motivated. Netanyahu says he aims to achieve Israel's goals of freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in the 2023 attack. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.

Israel's offensive has obliterated vast swaths of Gaza's urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Residents and friends gather in Huyler Park ahead of the release of American hostage Edan Alexander from Hamas on Monday, May 12, 2025 in Tenafly, N.J. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Israelis gather to watch a live broadcast in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander being released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Monday, May 12, 2025. Alexander was abducted during the Hamas-led attack on his base on October 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A military helicopter carrying relatives of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander lands ahead of his scheduled release from Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Reim, near the Gaza border, southern Israel, Monday, May 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Relatives and friends of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander gather to watch the TV broadcast of his release from Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Monday, May 12, 2025. Alexander was abducted during the Hamas-led attack on his base on October 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Mohannad Al-Agha, holds body of his niece Zeina Al- Agha, 2, killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, during her funeral at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FILE - Varda Ben Baruch holds a picture of her grandson Edan Alexander, who is held hostage in Gaza, gathers with other families to call out on loudspeakers in hopes that their loved ones will hear them, near the Gaza border in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)