No Americans are expected to be included in today’s release of the Hamas hostages – as Biden remains hopeful that US citizens, including four-year-old Abigail Eden, will be freed in the coming days
No Americans are expected to be among the hostages released by Hamas during today’s delayed release, a government official confirmed.
The White House says it remains “hopeful” that American citizens will be included in the hostage release process in the coming days, but that they were not included in the second round scheduled for Saturday.
“The president secured the release of two American citizens as the pilot of this massive hostage release,” a White House spokesman said Saturday.
“We are at the beginning of a process that will allow the release of at least 50 women and children in the first phase of the agreement.
“We hope this will include three women and children with dual citizenship who are American citizens. This will unfold in the coming days. We will not comment on individual cases, as the process is ongoing,” they added.
President Joe Biden on Friday acknowledged “extensive US diplomacy” to free the hostages from Hamas, but said it was “just the beginning” as US citizens have yet to be freed
Aviv Asher, 2.5, her sister Raz Asher, 4.5, and mother Doron react as they exit an Israeli military helicopter shortly after arriving in Israel on November 24
Biden told reporters Friday afternoon that the U.S. did not know when the American citizens being held hostage would be released, but said he “hopes and expects it will happen soon.”
Biden acknowledged “extensive US diplomacy” to free the hostages from Hamas, but said it was “just the beginning” as US citizens had not yet been freed.
Abigail Mor Edan lost both her parents in the bloody attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7 and is believed to be the youngest US citizen to be held by the terrorist group. Today she turns four years old
He told reporters that he was not sure when the first US citizens would leave Gaza, as two American women and four-year-old Abigail Mor Edan were believed to be among the hostages kidnapped in a brutal attack by Hamas on October 7. Israel.
Earlier on Friday, the national security team briefed Biden several times on the latest developments regarding the release of hostages from Gaza, the White House said.
“I was working with my team this morning as we began the first difficult days of implementing this deal,” Biden said.
“It’s just the beginning, but so far it’s going well.”
So far, 25 people have been freed since hundreds were kidnapped and taken to the territory by the terrorist group.
The president noted that the group of hostages included “an elderly woman, a grandmother and a mother with small children, some under the age of six.”
However, Hamas’ armed wing said the second phase of the release of the Israeli hostages would be delayed because of the aid dispute.
The hostages will not be freed until Israel agrees to allow aid trucks into northern Gaza, the group said Saturday.
Egypt and Qatar are reportedly trying to resolve the delay in the second round of release of Israeli hostages from Gaza.
Hamas’ armed wing said Saturday it was delaying the handover of the second group of hostages until Israel “adheres to the terms of the agreement.”
Bunyarin Srijan, the mother of a Thai hostage freed as part of a hostage and prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel, holds her phone, which shows a picture of her daughter, Nattaveri Mulkan, during an interview at her home in Khon Kaen, Thailand, 25 November.
Freed Israeli child hostages are held by Israeli soldiers shortly after their arrival in Israel on November 24
It was about the delivery of humanitarian aid to the north of the Gaza Strip and the selection criteria for the release of prisoners, according to a statement from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
An Israeli official confirmed to AFP that the hostages had not yet been handed over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades said the release of the hostages would be delayed if Israel did not adhere to agreed terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel did not respond to this statement. Earlier, an Israeli military spokesman told French broadcaster BFM that, barring last-minute changes, the 13 Israeli hostages were expected to be freed.
He said that 39 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return.
A total of 50 hostages are to be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners, some with convictions for weapons and violent crimes, within four days, according to a Qatari-brokered truce deal between Israel and Hamas.
In the first exchange on Friday, 13 Israeli women and children – out of about 240 hostages taken by Hamas fighters in a killing spree in southern Israel on October 7 – were freed. 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenagers were released from Israeli prisons.
Saturday’s setback came hours after Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing with southern Gaza through which vital aid has resumed, said it had received “positive signals” from all sides about a possible extension of the deal.
