Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 12, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba KILDONAN PARK GOLF COURSE R E D R I V E R C H I E F P E G U I S T R A I L M A I N S T P E R I M E T E R H W Y R I D G E C R E S T A V E S C O T I A S T H E N D E R S O N H W Y H E N D E R S O N H W Y River Ridge II 2701 Scotia St. Winnipeg, MB KILDONAN PARK A s s i s t e d L i v i n g I n d e p e n d e n t O n l y 2 S u i t e s w i t h P r i v a t e B a l c o n i e s R e m a i n i n g Independent Assisted Living provides care and support 24/7 allowing residents to Age In Place safely and comfortably throughout the years! Call Chassity to Arrange Your Personal Tour 204.272.0369 Worry-Free Living At Its Finest Where Caring is Our Number One Concern™ www.allseniorscare.com MONDAY, MAY 12, 2025WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A5 NEWS I LOCAL / WORLD PHOTOS BY MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS FEELING THE HEAT Leroy escapes the heat Sunday as he pours water on his head using water from a hydration station provided by the City of Winnipeg. The city has opened four water stations in and around downtown and issued a notice encouraging people who need a reprieve from the heat to cool down in air-conditioned libraries and leisure centres or take a dip in indoor city pools. Water tanks have been put in place at 888 Main St. (Main and Stella near Mount Carmel Clin- ic), 300 Princess St. near Siloam Mission, 364 Furby St. (near Aga- pe Table) and 190 Disraeli Fwy. (near N’Dinawemak centre). At left, the station at 190 Disraeli. A high of 36 C is expected today. Trump envoy confirms Hamas has agreed to release last living U.S. hostage in Gaza DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas said Sunday that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume the delivery of aid. Two Hamas officials told The Associated Press they expect the release in the next 48 hours. U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed late Sunday in a message to AP that Hamas had agreed to release Alexander as a goodwill gesture toward Trump. The announcement of the first hostage release since Israel shattered a ceasefire in March comes shortly before Trump visits the Middle East this week. It highlighted the willingness of Israel’s closest ally to inject momentum into ceasefire talks for the 19-month war as desperation grows among hostages’ families and Gaza’s over 2 mil- lion people under the new Israeli blockade. “This was 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,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday evening. “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!” Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in New Jersey. He was abducted from his base during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that ignited the war in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the U.S. informed it of Hamas’s intent to release Alexander “without compensation or conditions” and that the step is expected to lead to negotiations on a truce. Netanyahu’s government was angered by U.S. direct talks with Hamas ear- lier this year — which led to a Hamas offer to re- lease Alexander and the bodies of four other hos- tages if Israel recommitted to a stalled ceasefire deal. Days later, however, Israel resumed the war. Witkoff told the AP that Hamas’s goal in releas- ing Alexander was to restart talks on a ceasefire, the release of additional hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza before Israel carries out a threatened total takeover of the territory. Khalil al-Hayyah, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group has been in contact with the U.S. ad- ministration over the past few days. Al-Hayyah said in a statement Hamas is ready to “immediately start intensive negotiations” to reach a final deal for a long-term truce, which includes an end to the war, the exchange of Pal- estinian prisoners and hostages in Gaza and the handing over of power in Gaza to an independent body of technocrats. Indirect talks between Hamas and the U.S. began five days ago, an Egyptian official and a senior Hamas official told the AP, with both de- scribing the release of Alexander as a gesture of goodwill. The senior Hamas official, speaking on condi- tion of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Alexander was ex- pected to be released today. Hamas was advised to “give a gift to President Trump and in return he will give back a better one,” the official said. Another Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations, said Alex- ander’s release was expected in the next 48 hours, adding that it requires Israel to pause fighting for a couple of hours. The Egyptian official involved in ceasefire ne- gotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss talks, said Hamas received assurances from the Trump administration through Egyp- tian and Qatari mediators that Alexander’s re- lease “will put all files on the negotiating table” including an end to the war. Alexander’s parents did not immediately return requests for comment. Trump and Witkoff have frequently mentioned Alexander, now 21, by name in the past few months. Witkoff was travelling to the region on today ahead of Alexander’s expected release. “Every time they say Edan’s name, it’s like they didn’t forget. They didn’t forget he’s American, and they’re working on it,” Edan’s mother, Yael Alexander, told The Associated Press earlier this year. Hamas released a video of Alexander in Nov- ember during the Thanksgiving weekend, his mother said. The video was difficult to watch as he cried and pleaded for help, but it was a relief to see the latest sign that he was alive, she said. Fifty-nine hostages are still in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. The Hostages Families Forum, the grass- roots forum representing most of the hostage families, said Alexander’s release “must mark the beginning of a comprehensive agreement” that will free everyone. Trump, whose administration has voiced full support for Israel’s actions, is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week in a regional tour. Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday killed 15 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to local health officials. Two strikes hit tents in the southern city of Khan Younis, each killing two children and their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another seven people were killed in strikes elsewhere, including a man and his child in a Gaza City neighbourhood, according to hospitals and Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military says it only targets mil- itants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths in the 19-month war because the militants are embedded in dense- ly populated areas. — The Associated Press WAFAA SHURAFA, ZEKE MILLER AND SAMY MAGDY White South Africans offered refugee status depart for U.S. C APE TOWN, South Africa — A group of 49 white South Africans departed their homeland Sunday for the United States on a private char- ter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February. The group, which included families and small children, was due to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside Washington this morning local time, ac- cording to Collen Msibi, a spokesperson for South Africa’s transport ministry. They are the first Afrikaners — a white minority group in South Africa — to be relocated after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive or- der on Feb. 7 accusing South Africa’s Black-led government of racial dis- crimination against them and announ- cing a program to offer them relocation to America. The South African government said it is “completely false” that Afrikaners are being persecuted. The Trump administration has fast- tracked their applications while paus- ing other refugee programs, halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other coun- tries in a move being challenged in court. Refugee groups have questioned why the white South Africans are being pri- oritized ahead of people from countries wracked by war and natural disasters. Vetting for refugee status in the U.S. often takes years. The Trump administration says the South African government is pursuing racist, anti-white policies through af- firmative action laws and a new land ex- propriation law it says targets Afrikan- ers’ land. The government says those claims are based on misinformation and there is no racism against Afrikan- ers and no land has been expropriated, although the contentious law has been passed and is the focus of criticism in South Africa. South Africa also denies U.S. claims that Afrikaners are being targeted in racially motivated attacks in some rural communities. Instead, the South African government said Afrikaners — who are the descendants of Dutch and French colonial settlers — are “amongst the most economically priv- ileged” in the country. The first Afrikaner refugees were travelling on a flight operated by the Tulsa, Okla.-based charter company Omni Air International, Msibi said. They would fly to Dakar, Senegal and stop there to refuel before heading for Dulles. They departed from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, where they were accompanied by po- lice officers and airport officials when they checked in. Msibi said they would have to be vetted by police to ensure there were no criminal cases or out- standing warrants against them before being allowed to leave. The South African government said there was no justification for them be- ing relocated but said it wouldn’t stop them and respected their freedom of choice. They are expected to be greeted at Dulles by a U.S. government delega- tion, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office has organized their re- settlement. The flight will be the first in a “much larger-scale relocation effort,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday. Miller said that what was happening to Afri- kaners in South Africa “fits the text- book definition of why the refugee pro- gram was created.” “This is persecution based on a pro- tected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution,” he said. The HHS Office for Refugee Re- settlement was ready to offer them support, including with housing, furni- ture and other household items, and ex- penses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, a document obtained by The Associated Press said. The document said the relocation of Afrikaners was “a stated priority of the administration.” — The Associated Press GERALD IMRAY ;