President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US wants Hamas to free Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander as a show of goodwill in their secret negotiations.

Meetings between Hamas leaders and U.S. hostage negotiator Adam Boehler in recent days have focused on the release of an American-Israeli dual national being held by the militant group in Gaza, a senior Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday.

U.S. Hostage Envoy Adam Boehler defended the United States’s negotiating directly with the Hamas terrorist group, though he acknowledged why Israeli officials were upset over the move. The Trump administration has been negotiating directly with Hamas over the release of its hostages,