Hamas denied on Tuesday, May 13 that the release of the American Israeli hostage Edan Alexander the day before was linked to an Israeli military pressure as the Hebrew Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“The return of Edan Alexander is the result of serious communications with the US administration and the efforts of the mediators, and not a consequence of Israeli aggression or the illusion of military pressure,” said the Palestinian Islamist movement in a statement.
Hamas launched Alexander on Monday after more than 19 months of captivity in the Gaza Strip. On the side, Benjammin Netanyahu said Monday that the release of the 21 -year -old soldier was the result of a “winning combination” of joint action in his country and the United States.
“This was possible thanks to our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by President Trump,” he said in a video transmitted for his services a few minutes after the arrival of Edan Alexander to Israel.
The result of “serious negotiations” for Hamas
After participating last week in discussions with American representatives about a truce in Gaza, Hamas announced on Sunday that he was going to launch American Israeli hostage. On Monday, the Palestinian movement had already insisted that this hostage release was the result of “serious negotiations” during which he said he was “flexible.”
After two months of truce that enabled the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners at the beginning of the year, Israel resumed on March 18 his offensive against Hamas saying that he wanted to force him to free the hostages that were still retained in the Gaza Strip from the unprecedented attack of October 7, 2023.
After weeks of laborious negotiations, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas have gone so far, the parties accuse each other to block the process.
Of the 251 people kidnapped in Israel during the attack against Hamas, which caused the war more than a year and a half, 57 are still retained in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army. Hamas also retains the body of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in Gaza in 2014.
Source: BFM TV
