Biden credits ‘extensive US diplomacy’ for Hamas hostage release but said it’s ‘only a start’ as no Americans have yet to be released and he was unsure when they’d be freed from Gaza
President Joe Biden on Friday credited “extensive U.S. diplomacy” for the release of hostages by Hamas, but said this is “just a start” as no U.S. citizens have yet been released.
He told reporters he was unsure when the first American citizens would leave Gaza, as two American women and four-year-old Abigail Mor Edan were believed to be among the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terror attack on Gaza. Israel.
Biden addressed the nation Friday afternoon from the White Elephant Hotel in Nantucket as he spent the Thanksgiving holiday with his family on the island of Massachusetts.
“We don’t know when that will happen, but we expect it will happen,” Biden said when asked when the Americans would be released. “And we don’t know the list of all the hostages and when they will be released, but we do know the numbers that will be released.”
“So it is my hope and expectation that this will happen soon,” the president added.
President Joe Biden on Friday credited “extensive U.S. diplomacy” for Hamas’ release of hostages, but said it is “just a start” as no U.S. citizens have been released yet
He said he had hoped to get news of the hostage American citizens before addressing the press.
‘In about an hour we will know what the second wave of releases will be. And I’m hopeful that this is what we expect,” Biden said.
He called today’s release – reportedly 13 Israelis, 10 Thai prisoners and one Filipino citizen – “the beginning of a process.”
“We expect more hostages to be released tomorrow, and more the day after,” he said. “We expect that dozens of hostages will be returned to their families in the coming days.”
Abigail Mor Edan lost both her parents in Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel on October 7 and is believed to be the youngest American citizen in the hands of the terrorist group. Today she turns four years old
He acknowledged that two American women and a four-year-old, Edan, are among the missing.
Today is Edan’s fourth birthday.
“We will also not stop until we bring these hostages home and get answers as to their whereabouts,” Biden vowed.
The president also acknowledged that the US did not know the condition of the American hostages.
The White House had confirmed earlier Friday that there were no American citizens in the first group of hostages released by Hamas.
Earlier Friday, Biden was briefed several times by his national security team on the latest developments regarding the release of hostages from Gaza, the White House said.
“This morning I engaged with my team as we began the first difficult days of implementing this deal,” Biden said. “It’s just a start, but so far so good.”
So far, 25 people have been released since hundreds were kidnapped and brought to the territory by the terrorist group during the attack on Israel on October 7.
The president noted that that group of hostages included “an elderly woman, a grandmother and mothers with their young children, some under the age of six.”
Hostages kidnapped by Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attack on Israel are handed over by Hamas militants to the International Red Cross
“All of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” Biden said. ‘The teddy bears ready to greet the children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have experienced at such a young age.’
On Thursday, as President and First Lady Jill Biden delivered Thanksgiving pumpkin pies to the Nantucket Fire Department, Biden told reporters, “I’m keeping my fingers crossed” when asked if Edan would be among the first hostages released.
Edan is the youngest known American citizen held by Hamas.
“When I think about it, Friday is Abigail’s fourth birthday and she should be home with her family and with her sister and brother, and that’s not the case right now,” Edan’s great-aunt Liz Hirsh Naftali said on CNN, while she choked. she spoke.
The toddler was reportedly being held by her father, photojournalist Roy Edan, when he and her mother, Smadar Edan, were shot and killed by Hamas terrorists.
“It’s like you’re in control of your emotions because otherwise you’re thinking about nine-month-old children, little girls, little boys, mothers and just hoping that there’s someone holding these little children,” Naftali said.
“If people ask that: I am not a politician, I am not a diplomat, I will believe it when I see them running away, being expelled and they are free,” Naftali also said.