JERUSALEM (AP) — Edan Alexander was 19 when Hamas militants stormed the Israeli military base where the American-Israeli from New Jersey was a soldier and dragged him into the Gaza Strip.
Hamas released Alexander, the last living American hostage in Gaza, on Monday ahead of President Donald Trump's visit to the region this week. The militant group called it a goodwill gesture aimed at reviving mediated efforts to end the 19-month war.
Alexander was among 251 people taken hostage in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. Fifty-eight remain in Gaza. Around a third are believed to be alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
After Hamas announced on Sunday he would be released, Alexander's family said 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 flew to Israel on Monday. Trump’s hostage negotiator, Adam Boehler, posted a picture on social media showing Alexander's mother, Yael, aboard the flight.
A native of Tenafly, a suburb of New York City, Edan Alexander moved to Israel in 2022 after high school and enlisted in the military. Hamas militants seized him from his military base after he volunteered to stay there over the Jewish Sabbath.
In a video Hamas released of Alexander over Thanksgiving weekend in November 2024, he cried and pleaded for help. Though the video was difficult to watch, his family said, it came as a relief to see he was alive.
Hostages freed since then have given the family more news, his father said. Some said Alexander had lost a lot of weight. Others said he’d been an advocate for fellow hostages, standing up for captive Thai workers and telling their captors that the workers weren't involved in the conflict and should be freed.
Alexander, like other male soldiers held in Gaza, was not included among hostages released during a ceasefire earlier this year. Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in January and February in return for nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners. The sight of some emaciated hostages among those freed brought fresh despair to families whose loved ones remained in Gaza.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, along with the release of more Palestinian prisoners. Israel has rejected those terms, saying it will continue the war until all the hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated.
Hamas said in March it would release Alexander and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel recommitted to the stalled ceasefire agreement. Alexander’s father, Adi, said at the time he was speaking with Trump’s hostage negotiators almost daily, pressing for his son's release.
Days later, Israel shattered the truce with a surprise bombardment that killed hundreds of Palestinians. Israel called the renewed bombardment a tactic to pressure Hamas to negotiate different ceasefire terms. Hamas said the offensive puts remaining hostages at risk.
In April, Hamas published another video of Alexander in which he spoke from a dark room. His family believes he has been held in Hamas' vast tunnel network.
Days later, Hamas said it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after an Israeli airstrike targeted their location. Israeli officials have not commented on the claim.
The Alexander family Monday urged the Israeli government to continue efforts to free all the hostages — a plea that other families have echoed since the Hamas announcement on Sunday.
“Please don’t stop," Alexander's family said. "We hope our son’s release begins negotiations for all 58 remaining hostages, ending this nightmare for them and their families.”
Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
FILE - Varda Ben Baruch, holds a picture of her grandson Edan Alexander who is held hostage in Gaza, near the Gaza border in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, on April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
Relatives of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander arrive 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)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, triggering air raid sirens across the country as emergency services reported at least five killed and dozens more wounded in the fourth day of open warfare between the regional foes that showed no sign of slowing.
Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for Israel's sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure, which have killed at least 224 people in the country since last Friday.
The attacks raised Israel’s total death toll to at least 18, and in response the Israeli military said fighter jets had struck 10 command centers in Tehran belonging to Iran's Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.
Powerful explosions, likely from Israel’s defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn on Monday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the coastal city.
Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva said that Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, shattering windows and ripping the walls off multiple apartments.
The Israeli Magen David Adom emergency service reported that two women and two men — all in their 70s — and one other person were killed in the wave of missile attacks that struck four sites in central Israel.
“We clearly see that our civilians are being targeted,” said Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne outside the bombed-out building in Petah Tikva. “And this is just one scene. We have other sites like this near the coast, in the south.”
Petah Tikva resident Yoram Suki rushed with his family to a shelter after hearing an air raid alert, and emerged after it was over to find his apartment destroyed.
“Thank God we were OK,” the 60-year-old said.
Despite losing his home, he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep up the attacks on Iran.
“It's totally worth it,” he said. “This is for the sake of our children and grandchildren.”
In addition to those killed, the MDA said paramedics had evacuated another 87 wounded people to hospitals, including a 30-year-old woman in serious condition, while rescuers were still searching for residents trapped beneath the rubble of their homes.
“When we arrived at the scene of the rocket strike, we saw massive destruction,” said Dr. Gal Rosen, a paramedic with MDA who said he had rescued a 4-day-old baby as fires blazed from the building.
During an earlier barrage of Iranian missiles on central Israel on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran will stop its strikes if Israel does the same.
But after a day of intensive Israeli aerial attacks that extended targets beyond military installations to hit oil refineries and government buildings, the Revolutionary Guard struck a hard line on Monday, vowing that further rounds of strikes would be “more forceful, severe, precise and destructive than previous ones."
Health authorities also reported that 1,277 were wounded in Iran, without distinguishing between military officials and civilians.
Rights groups, like the Washington-based Iranian advocacy group called Human Rights Activists, have suggested that the Iranian government’s death toll is a significant undercount. Human Rights Activists says it has documented more than 400 people killed, among them 197 civilians.
Israel argues that its assault on Iran's top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists was necessary to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003.
But Iran has enriched ever-larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have the capacity to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.
Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.
People evacuate after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Rescue team work at the site where a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An explosion is seen during a missile attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
People evacuate after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
