UN employees on the site of an Israeli strike on an Unrwa depot serving as a shelter for displaced people, in Jabalia, on May 10, 2025. (Credit: Bachar Taleb.)
"If now, half the hostages are released and we don't have to manage the phases of release each time, then we are ready to discuss," an Israeli official told Haaretz.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted, after Hamas announced on Sunday that it would release Israeli-US hostage Edan Alexander on Monday, this release will not be considered a cease-fire by the Israeli government. "It is not a cease-fire, but a halt to reconnaissance efforts in the area where the release will take place," commented the official on the order issued by the Israeli General Staff to pause military activities in Gaza from noon, to be able to retrieve the 21-year-old soldier, according to several Israeli media outlets.
The Palestinian movement also assured that it will hand over the captive without any "release ceremony," as it was accustomed to doing during prisoner exchanges organized during the two truces concluded since October 7.
"We understand that Edan Alexander is the last bargaining chip Hamas has to end the military operation 'Chariots of Gideon',' the name given to the expansion of the Israeli offensive in Gaza adopted on May 5 by Tel Aviv, planning a 'conquest' and long-term occupation of the Palestinian enclave". "It was the only means to bring the Americans into a situation where they would force us to stop the operation," concluded the official.