Israeli PM says negotiations with Hamas will continue ‘under fire’, with just a pause for the planned release of Edan Alexander.

Israel has not agreed to any ceasefire or prisoner swap with Hamas ahead of the expected release of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander, but is continuing to prepare to intensify its military operations in Gaza, its prime minister has stated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement released on Monday that ceasefire negotiations “will continue under fire, during preparations for an intensification of the fighting”. The Israeli leader insisted that military pressure had forced Hamas to make the release.

“Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind” or the release of Palestinian prisoners, but has only agreed to allow safe passage for the release of Alexander, the last surviving United States captive held in Gaza, the statement said.

A Hamas source told the AFP news agency later on Monday that mediators had informed the Palestinian group that Israel would pause military operations in Gaza for the handover.

‘Final deal?’

Hamas said on Monday that Alexander’s release was imminent. The armed group agreed to release him as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is due to arrive in the Middle East later.

The previous day, the Palestinian group had revealed that it had agreed to the release in talks with the US. Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt called it an encouraging step towards a return to ceasefire talks for war-torn Gaza.

Khalil al-Hayyah, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group was ready to “immediately start intensive negotiations” to reach a final deal for a long-term truce, including an end to the war, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and remaining Israeli captives in Gaza, and the handing over of power in the enclave to an independent body of technocrats.

Alexander’s family said they hoped the decision would open the way for the release of the 59 other captives, only 21 of whom are believed to be alive.

Families of the captives and their supporters in Israel have pressed the government to reach a deal to secure the release of those still held in Gaza, but Netanyahu has faced heavy pressure from hardliners in his cabinet not to end the war.

Last week, Netanyahu announced that Israel plans a total conquest of Gaza in an intensive military operation. Israeli officials have said that the step-up in military action would not start until Trump wraps up his Middle East visit.

Israel continues to bombard the enclave.

Gaza’s Civil Defence agency reported on Monday that several people were killed and many more injured in an overnight air attack on a school housing displaced people.

“At least 10 [dead], including several women and children, as well as dozens of wounded, were transported following an Israeli air strike on the Fatima Bint Asad school, which is home to more than 2,000 displaced people in the city of Jabalia,” Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

Israeli forces also continued attacks across the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City in the north, Rafah in the south and the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre.

Israel has previously bombed Hodeidah and Sanaa International Airport; Houthi missile targeted Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

Israel has launched air attacks on Yemen’s Hodeidah governorate, according to the Houthi Interior Ministry.

The attack late on Sunday came after the Israeli army said it had warned those present at three Houthi-controlled ports in the area to evacuate.

It was the latest salvo in exchanges between Israel and the Houthis.

Israel bombed the Hodeidah port after a Houthi attack near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv earlier this month.

Israeli strikes have also targeted parts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and the main international airport there.

The Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel and on Israeli targets in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians under fire since the war on Gaza began 19 months ago. Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 52,000 people, including 57 who starved to death due to the total Israeli siege since March 2, according to Palestinian officials.

A ceasefire deal between Yemen’s Houthis and the United States does not include any operations against Israel, the group’s chief negotiator announced earlier this week. The Houthis stopped firing on Israel during the Gaza ceasefire earlier this year, but resumed when Israel imposed its punishing blockade and then resumed the war soon after.

The US military had been launching daily air strikes across Yemen for nearly two months, destroying infrastructure and killing dozens of people, including children and civilians.

Port Sudan, el-Fasher, West Kordofan and West Darfur have all seen heavy fighting.

Multiple attacks by Sudan’s armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have struck various locations across the country now in its third year of a civil war.

At least nine civilians, including four children, were killed and seven injured in attacks on Sunday by the RSF in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, according to the Sudanese army.

During a sweep of the city, the SAF killed six RSF members and destroyed three combat vehicles, according to the statement. There was no immediate comment from the RSF on the army report.

El-Fasher is the last major city held by SAF in Darfur. For over a year, the RSF has sought to wrest control it, located more than 800km (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, from the SAF, launching regular attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

In the meantime, Sudan’s civil defence forces announced on Sunday that they have full control over fires that erupted at the main fuel depot and other strategic sites in Port Sudan, the seat of the army-backed government, which has come under daily drone attacks blamed on the RSF over the past week.

The fires caused by a drone strike on the fuel depot on Monday had spread across “warehouses filled with fuel”, the Sudanese army-aligned authorities said, warning of a “potential disaster in the area”.

The Red Sea port city had been seen as a safe haven from the devastating two-year conflict between the SAF and RSF before the drone strikes began on May 4.

The attacks have damaged several key facilities, including the country’s sole international civilian airport, its largest working fuel depot and the city’s main power station.

On Tuesday, Sudanese authorities accused the RSF of being behind the drone strikes. The RSF has not commented on the allegations.

Port Sudan is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country”, his spokesman said.

Sudan’s army launched air strikes on the RSF in el-Khuwei in West Kordofan state and the state of West Darfur late on Saturday. El-Khuwei was captured by the RSF last week.

Activists and Sudanese accounts shared a video clip on social media showing the Sudanese army and their allied forces announcing that they had regained control over el-Khuwei after battles with the RSF on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency.

Witnesses also reported drone strikes on Sunday, targeting the airport in Atbara, a city in the northern state of River Nile.

The RSF has been battling the SAF for control of Sudan since April 2023. The civil war has killed more than 20,000 people, uprooted 15 million and created what the UN considers the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.