An Israeli-American hostage has been released from 19 months of captivity and reunited with his family, but there is no deal on a wider truce or more hostage releases as Israeli strikes on the battered enclave resume.

Israel's military received Edan Alexander, 21, from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which facilitated his transfer from Palestinian militant group Hamas.

He was taken to an Israeli military facility and joined by his family.

Edan Alexander hugs his mother after being released. – Reuters

Video showed that his mother, Yael Alexander, cried as she hugged him, saying: "How strong you are. I love you so much, Edan. We were so worried."

Alexander kissed and embraced his father, brother and sister as well. An Israeli Air Force helicopter then took Alexander and his family to a hospital where he was to receive treatment.

Alexander was the last American held by Hamas and Israel's Channel 12 said his condition was "low", without citing a source.

Al Jazeera television showed a photograph of him standing next to masked fighters and a Red Cross official. Unlike in previous hostage releases, he was wearing civilian clothes.

In photos provided by Israel, he looked pale but in good spirits.

Edan Alexander reunited with his grandmother and relatives at a Tel Aviv hospital. – AP

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.

“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 humour,” she said.

Alexander was 19 when he was taken from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas' cross-border attack on October 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.

People celebrate the release of Edan Alexander in his hometown of Tenafly, New Jersey. – AP 

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.

Fighting halted at midday in Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would pause its operations to allow safe passage for the hostage release.

Palestinian health officials reported Israeli tank shelling and an air attack after the hostage handover, and there was no deal on a wider truce or hostage releases as monitors warned of famine in the devastated enclave.

Family of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander gather ahead of expected release. – AP

After Israeli fire resumed, authorities in Gaza said an air strike killed three people and wounded several others at a shelter housing displaced families in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

A woman was killed and several other people wounded when tank shells hit a school housing displaced families in the Tuffah neighbourhood in the north of Gaza.

Hamas said it was freeing Alexander as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region this week.

"Edan Alexander, American hostage thought dead, to be released by Hamas. Great news!" Trump wrote in capital letters on his social media platform earlier in the day.

In a photo taken on the military helicopter and released by Israel, Alexander held a sign reading: "Thank you, president Trump."

Netanyahu said Alexander's release came thanks to Israel's military pressure in Gaza and political pressure by Trump.

The Israeli leader said he spoke with Trump and the US president expressed commitment to Israel, according to a statement by Netanyahu's office.

Netanyahu on hostage release: 'This is a very emotional moment'. – AP

Netanyahu has said there will be no ceasefire and that plans to intensify military action in Gaza continue. Witnesses in Gaza Strip told Reuters the movement of aviation over Gaza by Israeli warplanes and drones had resumed after Alexander's handover.

The release, after four-way talks between Hamas, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, could open the way to freeing the remaining 58 hostages held in the Gaza Strip, 19 months after Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Qatar and Egypt said Alexander's release was an encouraging step towards new truce talks. Israel will send a delegation to Qatar later this week to discuss a new proposal aimed at securing further hostage releases, Netanyahu's office said.

UN welcomes release of Israeli-American hostage by Hamas. – AP

Netanyahu has insisted that Israel's planning for an expanded military campaign in Gaza will continue, as one of his far-right coalition partners, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said the war on Islamist militant Hamas must not end and aid should not be let into the Palestinian enclave.

"Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind," Netanyahu's office said.

It added that military pressure had forced Hamas into the release.

Gaza health authorities said an Israeli strike killed at least 15 people sheltering at a school before fighting paused. Israel's military said it had targeted Hamas fighters there who were preparing an attack.

The global hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation and there is a critical risk of famine by September.

Celebrations held in Israel as Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander is released by Hamas. – AP

'Bring them all home'

Trump is due to visit Gulf states on a trip that does not include a stop in Israel but special envoy Steve Witkoff, who helped arrange the release, was expected in Israel, two Israeli officials said.

Alexander's family thanked Trump and Witkoff, saying in a statement that they hoped the decision would open the way for the release of the other remaining hostages.

"We urge the Israeli government and the negotiating teams: please don't stop," they said.

US officials have tried to calm fears in Israel of a growing distance between Israel and Trump, who last week announced an end to US bombing of Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who have continued to fire missiles at Israel.

Israel's government has drawn criticism over the deal to release Alexander, which laid bare the priority given to hostages able to rely on the support of a foreign government.

Members of New Jersey community gathered ahead of American hostage release. – AP

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is among 21 hostages still believed to be alive, said Netanyahu was choosing his political survival over ending the war.

Addressing Trump in a statement she read with other hostage families, she said: 

"The Israeli people are behind you. End this war. Bring them all home."

Netanyahu, who was due to testify in the latest session of his trial on corruption charges that he denies, has faced pressure from hardliners in his cabinet not to end the war.

Following a ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in Gaza for two months and allowed the exchange of 38 hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails, Israel resumed its military campaign in the enclave in March.

Since then, it has extended its control of the territory, clearing around a third of what it has described as a "security zone" and blocked off the entry of aid into Gaza, leaving the population of 2 million increasingly short of food.

Last week, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee outlined plans for a new system of aid deliveries by private contractors, but many details are unclear, including on funding.

Edan Alexander's parents at the National Day of Prayer at the White House. – Reuters

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog that humanitarian aid in Gaza needed to resume immediately. Herzog said the new aid mechanism would reach civilians, not Hamas, and urged the international community to help implement it.

Israeli forces invaded Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led assault on Israel in October 2023 that killed 1200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed, Palestinian health authorities say, and large swathes of the heavily built-up enclave have been laid to waste.