AP PHOTOS: A look at the huge prison in El Salvador linked to US deportations

TECOLUCA, El Salvador (AP) — President Donald Trump’ s administration has acknowledged mistakenly deporting a Maryland man with protected legal status to a notorious El Salvador prison, but is arguing against returning him to the United States because of his alleged gang ties and the U.S. government’s lack of power over the Central American nation.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants — whom Trump administration officials have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s maximum-security gang prison just outside of San Salvador. Garcia is one of them.

This photo gallery curated by AP photo editors highlights a recent tour of the prison by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem looks at rifles in the armory during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Shackled prisoners stand against a wall as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A prisoner is moved as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A prisoner looks out from his cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A prisoner with a tattoo with leg irons on stands as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A prisoner at the Terrorist Confinement Center stands in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, during a tour of the facility by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Prisoners look out of their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Prisoners look out their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Prisoners look out their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, left, tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The exterior of the Terrorist Confinement Center as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Prisoners with MS-13 gang tattoos looks out of his cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Hamas militant group said it has released the last living American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza on Monday as an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the Gaza Strip killed about 16 people in the embattled enclave, mostly women and children.

Hamas said it released Edan Alexander as a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration to try to revive talks on ending the war. There was no immediate confirmation from Israel.

At least five children and four women were among those killed in the strike on a school in the Jabaliya area, the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service said, adding that a number of people were wounded.

The Israeli military blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying its fighters operate in densely populated areas. There was no immediate comment on the latest strike.

The release and the attack came as U.S. President Donald Trump heads to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week.

After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel has intensified the war in the Gaza Strip, where its 10-week blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis.

Here is the latest:

Hamas says it has released Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander as a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration to try to revive talks on ending the war.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel.

The release comes ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week.

In Edan Alexander’s hometown of Tenafly, New Jersey people gathered in the streets around Huyler Park with yellow “welcome home” and “bring them home” signs and set up a large video screen with a live newsfeed from Israel. Supporters have gathered every Friday to march for the hostages’ release.

Shirly Zaifman, whose children went to school with Alexander, said the 21-year-old is funny, smart and athletic, and that his family is an important part of the town.

“We’re ecstatic, we’re nervous just because we know, you know, anything can happen last minute,” Zaifman said, draped in an American and Israel flag. “We’re hoping for the best, it looks like it’s happening, but it’s such a thrill.”

“We may want to take them off of Syria, because we want to give them a fresh start,” said Trump, adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged him to do so.

The comments were striking change in tone from the president on Syria sanctions and the government of Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

Al-Sharaa took power after his Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led an offensive that toppled former President Bashar Assad in December.

The Trump administration has yet to formally recognize the new Syrian government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, and HTS remains a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Sanctions imposed on Damascus under Assad also remain in place.

Hawks in the White House and the Republican Party have been skeptical of al-Sharaa’s transformation and insist Syria remains a counter-terrorism issue.

Trump said that the U.S.-Israeli citizen was expected to be released by Hamas in the “next two hours” or “sometime today.”

“He’s coming home to his parents, which is really great news,” Trump told reporters at the White House shortly he was scheduled to depart for a whirlwind visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

Trump credited his special envoy Steve Witkoff in helping win the release of Alexander, 21.

The president said that Witkoff, a New York real estate developer turned diplomat, knew “very little about the subject matter” but learned quickly.

“He has a special way about him,” Trump said of Witkoff.

An Israeli official says Hamas is expected to release Edan Alexander at around 6:30 p.m. (1530 GMT).

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to brief the media

A senior United Nations official said Monday’s hunger report in Gaza is “extremely concerning” given that the strip’s roughly 2 million population continues to face “a very critical risk of famine.”

Beth Bechdol, deputy director of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said Gaza’s food system has collapsed since Israel reimposed its blockade.

“We are moving into a period where the entire population of the Gaza Strip … are continuing to face a very critical risk of famine and extreme hunger and malnutrition,” she said in an interview.

Mahmoud Alsaqqa, food security coordinator for the charity Oxfam, meanwhile, slammed Israel’s blockade, saying that thousands of aid trucks carrying aid were prevented from reaching desperate civilians.

“Gaza’s starvation is not incidental—it is deliberate, entirely engineered,” he said. “ It is unconscionable and is being allowed to happen.”

Dani Miran, the father of hostage Omri Miran, said he was happy for Edan Alexander’s expected release but “very sad that families of hostages need foreign passports to release their loved ones.” He said, “Does this country not know how to protect our citizens?”

Other relatives also expressed frustration over Israel’s failure to secure the release of their loved ones.

“We do not trust our government,” said Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen. “We need you, we need the United States, we need President Trump, we need special envoy Steve Witkoff to finish the job and free all the hostages.”

Einav Zangauker said her son, Matan, was held together with Edan Alexander and her “heart breaks from the knowledge that he will languish alone in captivity.”

Addressing Trump in English, she said, “Mr. President, sir, all of the Israeli people are behind you. End this war! Bring them all home!”

Food security experts said on Monday the Gaza Strip is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, said outright famine is the most likely scenario unless conditions change.

Nearly half a million Palestinians are in “catastrophic” levels of hunger, meaning they face possible starvation, the report said, while another million are at “emergency” levels of hunger.

The Palestinian Health Ministry also said Monday hospitals received 94 wounded. The dead included four bodies that were recovered from under the rubble, it said.

The death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has now reached 52,862, the ministry said, while 119,648 have been wounded.

It said the tally includes 2,749 dead and 7,607 wounded since Israel resumed the war in March, shattering a nearly 2-month ceasefire.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the dead were women and children.

Israel has filed a request with the International Criminal Court to have arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, revoked after an appeal last month ordered a pretrial panel to reconsider jurisdiction but did not suspend the warrants.

In a filing made public over the weekend.

Israel says the court did not have the legal authority to issue arrest warrants in November.

The warrants allege that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for crimes against humanity in the Gaza war. Israel, which is not a member of the court and rejects its jurisdiction, strongly refutes the allegations.

Hamas says it will release Edan Alexander on Monday.

Alexander, an Israeli soldier, was taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023.

Edan Alexander’s family said in a statement that it “received the greatest gift imaginable — news that our beautiful son Edan is returning home after 583 days in captivity in Gaza.”

Alexander’s parents, who live in the United States, were making their way to Israel ahead of the expected release.

The family said it was deeply grateful to Trump and his administration for their efforts to secure Edan's release.

It also urged the Israeli government to continue efforts to free all the hostages. “Please don’t stop. We hope our son’s release begins negotiations for all 58 remaining hostages, ending this nightmare for them and their families.”

The relatives of Israeli hostages welcomed the imminent release of the American-Israeli hostage, but there is also unease.

Some said Alexander was singled out for freedom because of his American citizenship and said they were worried about the fate of the other 23 living and roughly 35 dead captives who remain in Gaza.

“Trump is rescuing him. Who will rescue Gali and Ziv?” Maccabit Mayer, the aunt of sibling hostages Gali and Ziv Berman, told Israeli Army Radio on Monday. She said she was sorry the twin brothers don't have “the right citizenship.”

Also, some of the relatives accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not doing enough to free their loved ones, saying his insistence on continuing the war in Gaza is politically motivated.

Hamas says the last living American hostage in Gaza will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume aid delivery to the battered enclave.

Two Hamas officials have told The Associated Press they expect the release of Edan Alexander in the next 48 hours.

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed in a message to the AP that Hamas has agreed to release Alexander as a goodwill gesture toward Trump.

Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the United States.

Hospital patients are among the most vulnerable as Palestinians across Gaza struggle to feed themselves.

Israel’s blockade on food and other supplies entering the territory is now in its third month and hospitals are unable to provide food. Families must bring whatever they can find to help loved ones recover and doctors say patients have lost weight in recent weeks.

Aid groups say malnutrition is on the rise across Gaza. Food distributions have ended and charity kitchens are rapidly closing. Markets are empty of almost everything but canned goods and small amounts of vegetables, and prices have been rising.

A Palestinian girl struggles to obtain donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Ward Nar, left, reacts as she speaks with the photographer after returning empty-handed from attempting to receive donated food for her family, including her husband Mohammed Zaharna (center right) and their children, Sally (right) and Raed, at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians struggle to obtain donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)