The Dictatorship

Hamas says it released American-Israeli hostage in goodwill gesture toward Trump administration

Published

1 year ago

May 13, 2025

Hamas says it released American-Israeli hostage in goodwill gesture toward Trump administration

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas on Monday released an Israeli-American soldier who had been held hostage in Gaza for more than 19 months, offering a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire with Israel.

Edan Alexander21, was the first hostage released since Israel shattered an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas in March and unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds of Palestinians.

This undated photo released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum shows Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum via AP)

He was handed over to the Red Cross and then to Israeli forces before being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Tel Aviv. Israeli authorities released video and photos showing a pale but smiling Alexander in an emotional reunion with his mother and other family members.

Israel has promised to intensify its offensiveincluding by seizing Gaza and displacing much of the territory’s 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.

Wearing shirts emblazoned with his name, Alexander’s extended family gathered in Tel Aviv to watch the release. They chanted his name when the military said he was free, while in the city’s Hostage Square, hundreds of people broke out into cheers.

Alexander’s grandmother, Varda Ben Baruch, beamed. She said her grandson looked mostly all right in the first photo of him after nearly 600 days in captivity.

People watch a live broadcast of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander as he is released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, at a plaza known as the hostages square 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)

“He seemed like a man. He has really matured,” she said. Reports that Alexander cracked a joke on the phone while speaking to his mother for the first time did not surprise her. “He’s got such a sense of humor,” she said.

Alexander was 19 when he 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.

In his hometown of Tenafly, New Jersey, hundreds of supporters packed the streets, holding signs with his image and listening to speakers blasting Israeli music. As they watched the news of his release on a large screen, the crowd hugged and waved Israeli flags. Since he was taken hostage, supporters there gathered every Friday to march for the hostages’ release.

Israel says 58 hostages remain in captivity, with about 23 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.

Trump calls expected release ‘hopefully’ a step toward ending war

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

People gathered in Huyler Park celebrate the release of American hostage Edan Alexander from Hamas on Monday, May 12, 2025, in Tenafly, N.J. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

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.

Netanyahu “directed that a negotiations team leave for Doha tomorrow,” the prime minister’s office said, adding that Netanyahu “made it clear that the negotiations would only take place under fire.”

Netanyahu said Alexander’s release “was achieved thanks to our military pressure and the diplomatic pressure applied by President Trump. This is a winning combination.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of hostages, welcomed the news that an Israeli delegation was headed to the Qatari capital for talks.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, the ball is in your court,” the group said in a statement after Alexander was released. It urged the prime minister to announce that he was ready to negotiate a deal for the return of all remaining hostages and end the war.

Red Cross vehicles carrying American-Israeli hostage and soldier Edan Alexander leave the Gaza Strip after he was handed over to the organization, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

“Don’t miss this historic opportunity facing the State of Israel. Prove to the Israeli public and President Trump that you are willing to take a regional initiative that transcends narrow political considerations,” the group said.

Israel says it still plans to escalate its offensive

On Monday, a statement from Netanyahu’s office said Israel did not make any concessions for Alexander’s release and had only agreed to create a “safe corridor” to allow Alexander to be returned.

It 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.

Amy Lieberman from Hillsdale, New Jersey, foreground, joins Israelis waving flags as the convoy carrying freed Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander arrives after his release from Hamas captivity in Gaza to an army base in Reim, near the Gaza border, southern Israel, Monday, May 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Early Tuesday, an Israeli strike hit the surgery department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Officials at the hospital said two people were killed and 10 wounded. They had initially reported three deaths but later amended their tally.

The Israeli military said it had precisely struck Hamas militants operating from within a command and control center at the hospital.

Netanyahu faces criticism for not freeing all hostages

Alexander’s release created a backlash against Netanyahu, whom critics accuse of having to rely on a foreign leader to help free the remaining hostages.

At the opening of his trial on corruption allegations, 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.

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

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

The Dictatorship

Trump explodes at ‘Meet the Press’ host: ‘You’re either crooked or you’re stupid’

Published

11 hours ago

June 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump explodes at ‘Meet the Press’ host: ‘You’re either crooked or you’re stupid’

Jun. 7, 2026, 2:32 PM EDT

In an explosive interview with NBC aired Sunday, President Donald Trump cut the grilling short and left the set after peppering “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker with insults.

“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” Trump told Welker, who kept a cool demeanor despite the president’s barrage of disparaging slurs.

Moments before he attacked her, Trump — without providing any evidence — said he believes elections in the U.S. are rigged. Then he lambasted television news networks, singling out NBC, CBS and ABC.

“They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” Trump said.

“To be fair, I’m not crooked,” Welker shot back. “But let’s continue.”

“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” the president told Welker, who is the second woman and first Black journalist to helm the network’s flagship program.

Trump added, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”

It was not the first time Trump has berated a female journalist on the job covering his presidency.

In November 2025, he told Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey to stop talking, saying, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.” One month later, he told ABC’s Rachel Scott she was “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place.” Last month, he called MS NOW White House reporter Akayla Gardner “a dumb person” for pointing out that the cost of his White House ballroom project had doubled since it was first announced.

He has also repeatedly lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collinscriticizing her for not smiling enough.

The wide-ranging interview, which was taped last week on a farm in Wisconsin, was interrupted by the loud sound of heavy rain on the metal roof of the barn where they met. Welker questioned Trump on his war with Iran, his “anti-weaponization” fund and the upcoming midterm elections.

On his nearly $1.8 billion fund aimed at compensating people who say they were wrongly prosecuted, including Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, Trump said “people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated.”

He described the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as people who were “being ushered into the building” by law enforcement.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the fund last month and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week the administration would not be moving forward with the fundwhich faced bipartisan backlash.

When asked if the administration would pursue other avenues to revive it, Trump said he does not know what will ultimately happen and called Welker and her network “the fake dirty press.”

Despite campaigning on a promise to end foreign wars, Trump denied that he made such statements. He characterized the Iran war, launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, as necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

When asked about the rising cost of living as a result of the war, specifically gas and fertilizer, Trump chastised Welker.

“Are you ready? Am I allowed to talk? You keep asking questions and you don’t listen to the answers,” he said.

“I love the farmers and the farmers love me,” Trump said, adding that prices will come down after the war.

Welker suggested to her viewers Sunday that she and the president had a cordial conversation Saturday, saying they both “acknowledged the complications” posed by the rain. “He agreed to sit down with me for another ‘Meet the Press’ interview,” she said.

Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.

The Dictatorship

Visa dispute amid war sidelines Iran soccer team staff from World Cup

Published

11 hours ago

June 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Visa dispute amid war sidelines Iran soccer team staff from World Cup

Jun. 7, 2026, 12:04 PM EDT

Iran said visas were denied to key members of its national soccer team ahead of the World Cupwhich a U.S. official insisted was necessary so that Iran does not try to “sneak terrorists into the United States.”

In a post on Xthe Iranian embassy in Turkey said “visas were denied to a large portion of the managerial and executive staff, technical advisers, and others” on its team.

“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” the embassy said, accusing the U.S. of the “worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport” and “depriving Iran’s national team of its right to play in the World Cup under normal conditions.”

Iranian officials are accusing the U.S. government of violating FIFA regulations and breaching its obligations as one of the host countries of what is widely regarded to be the biggest sporting event in the world. The diplomatic standoff between the two countries comes just days before the World Cup is set to kick off and more than three months after the U.S. and Israel waged war against Iran.

A Trump administration official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the subject told MS NOW in a statement that the visas “necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued.”

The official added, however, “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”

The statement from the Iranian Embassy in Turkey came in response to a post on X by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack praising embassy staff for processing visas for the Iranian national team.

According to The Associated Presssome of the team’s officials have not received visas to enter the U.S., which is co-hosting the World Cup with Mexico and Canada. Games are set to begin Thursday.

Problems with getting U.S. visas had already led Iran to move its World Cup training base from the U.S. to Mexico. But Iran is still listed on the official World Cup schedule to play its first two games in Los Angeles on June 15 against New Zealand, and against Belgium six days later before heading to Seattle to face Egypt.

The Iran Football Federation’s secretary-general and its vice president were among 14 staff and officials without U.S. visas, AP said, citing Iranian state television. The federation reportedly accused the U.S. of “vindictive behavior.”

Emily Hung contributed to this report.

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

The Dictatorship

At least 12 people shot at festival in Toledo, Ohio, police say

Published

11 hours ago

June 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

At least 12 people shot at festival in Toledo, Ohio, police say

Jun. 6, 2026, 9:49 PM EDT

A shooting near a community festival in Toledo, Ohio, wounded at least 12 people, and police said a search for the suspects was ongoing following an outbreak of gunfire that sent crowds scrambling for cover.

Two of the wounded were in critical condition, Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan said. He said it appeared there were at least two people firing weapons who were “probably shooting at each other.”

The Toledo Police Department said the shooting happened near the Old West End Festival, an annual gathering of live music and home tours in a historic district of the city.

The department said an active search was underway for those responsible.

“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Toledo tonight. Summer festivals should be safe spaces for families to spend time together without fear of violence,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement.

Multiple videos posted to social media showed people running over the sound of gunshots and emergency officials tending to others who appeared wounded.

Kevin Berry said he was sitting in the neighborhood arboretum listening to live music with his friends when he heard a handful of gunshots ring out.

“Everybody hit the deck,” he said.

When he looked back up, he saw a gun being tossed to the ground less than 50 feet (15 meters) away from him. Police officers who were already on-site for the festival immediately responded to the scene.

Berry, who has medical training and served in the U.S. Navy, said he walked around the area looking for potential victims who might need help.

He said he saw at least five people with gunshot wounds.

“The folks who were hit were spread out around the arboretum area,” he said.

The Old West End Festival is a two-day celebration in Toledo’s historic district that includes live music, food vendors, home tours and shopping.

Berry described it as the “kick-off to Toledo’s summer festival season.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.