Trump turns on Netanyahu after securing US hostage release

As the military helicopter carrying Edan Alexander – the last remaining American hostage held by Hamas – landed on top of the Tel Aviv hospital, the crowd gathered below erupted in cheers of pent-up relief.

Edan, now 21-years-old – but just 19 when he was captured, was finally free following 594 days in captivity.

After spending almost two years underground the American-Israel looked pale and traumatized. But remarkably he walked off the helicopter unaided. His mother, then his father, practically leaped into his arms.

There was dancing and singing in the crowd around me outside the Ichilov hospital, people waved Israeli and American flags. One of them was Tslil Ben Maruch, Edan’s aunt.

“I have three young kids at home, all of whom love Edan. Part of the struggle over the last two years has been trying to conceal his [kidnapping] from them. But it was impossible,” she said.

“But now he’s back… the family all gathered for a drink and we started singing. I’m so glad we had this happy ending, and that I was able to share that with my kids.”

Asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the negotiations for Edan’s release, she didn’t want to say anything. But unprompted, she expressed heartfelt gratitude to the people to whom she attributed his release.

“I want to thank President Trump and Witkoff for their great effort in making this happen. He has invited the family many times into the White House, meeting them and talking to them eye to eye. and he’s mentioned them by name. Just that alone, is a lot,” she said.

Edan himself was also specific about who to thank for his release. After leaving an Israeli military base just outside Gaza, he held up a handwritten sign reading: “Thank you President Trump.” He didn’t thank Netanyahu because his government was completely uninvolved in securing his release.

And Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, has reportedly gone much further than point out that Israel was uninvolved: he has accused the Israeli Prime Minister of not being serious about the return of the remaining hostages.

“We want to bring the hostages home, but Israel is not willing to end the war. Israel is prolonging it – despite the fact that we don’t see where else we can go and that an agreement must be reached,” Witkoff told family members of the hostages on Monday, according to Channel 12 television, quoting sources that attended the meeting.

They are astonishing words, if true, and crystalize a giant rupture as well as a reset in the relationship the US has previously had with Israel. But will they also herald the elusive final nail in the coffin of Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career?

“I don’t think Netanyahu can survive the elections in 2026. The Israeli people are against his policies in Gaza, his coalition is turning on him, Trump smells weakness,” said Shaiel Ben-Eprahim, a former Israeli diplomat.

Witkoff cut Netanayahu’s regime out of the negotiation for Edan’s release completely and negotiated directly with Hamas through a secret backchannel. A senior Hamas official contacted Bishara Bahbah, the former leader of “Arab Americans for Trump,” who conveyed messages to and from Witkoff. Israel only learned of the talks through its own intelligence services.

Now Witkoff is reportedly pushing for a 70-90 day ceasefire with ten hostages released in return.

But Netanyahu is refusing to change course on his stated aim of destroying Hamas. He has told his coalition partners that he won’t end the war before Hamas’s military and government have been dismantled, according to multiple Hebrew media reports.

And while repeated polls have indicated that a majority of Israelis back ending the war in exchange for the hostages, Netanyahu has rejected this trade. His far-right coalition partners have also threatened to collapse his government if he agrees to it.

Instead of a 70-90 day ceasefire, Israel has threatened to launch a major military operation in Gaza once Trump leaves the Mideast on Friday if Hamas doesn’t agree to a hostage deal by then.

Trump is currently in Saudi Arabia and will then visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – but he won’t be visiting Israel. Steve Witkoff is here, but not as a friend to Netanyahu or his government.

It seems that the Trump administration is pulling the rug out from under Netanyahu.

“Trump feels Netanyahu is weak, and we may be only a few days from there being an open break in their relationship,” said Ben-Eprahim.

“The Gulf states, not Qatar, but the other ones, were standing up against Iran. And that meant that overall, they shared interests with Israel and the United States. Trump is now listening to the Gulf States when they say the war in Gaza has to end.”

He’s just one man, but Edan’s release could represent a seismic shift in the trajectory of this war – and the trajectory of Netanyahu’s political career. The Trump administration, the Gulf states, the hostage families, the rest of the world and most of Israeli society want a ceasefire deal now. The Israeli government stands alone against them.