President Joe Biden announced that a 4-year-old American-Israeli dual citizen was among 13 hostages released by Hamas as part of a hostage swap arrangement on Sunday.
“Two days ago, two days ago, one of our fellow Americans, a little girl named Abigail, turned four years old. She spent her birthday, that birthday … held hostage by Hamas. Today, she’s free, and Jill and I, together with so many Americans, are praying for the fact that she is going to be alright. She’s free, and she’s in Israel now,” President Biden said.
Abigail Edan seems to be the first American citizen released by Hamas since the terrorist group was recognized by the State Department in October.
“What she endured is unthinkable. Abigail was among 13 hostages released today from Gaza under the brokered and sustained through intensive U.S. diplomacy. She’s now safely in Israel. And we continue to press and expect for additional Americans will be released as well,” the president added in remarks at the White House. ” And we will not stop working until every hostage is returned to their loved ones.”
According to a family friend, the youngster has a 6-year-old sister and a 10-year-old brother who saw their parents being slain in the terrorist assault on Oct. 7. Abigail's great-aunt, Liz Hirsh Naftali, told CNN that the youngsters hid in a cupboard for 14 hours.
“She turned 4 just two days ago,” Biden administration adviser Jake Sullivan said of the girl in a CNN interview. “She has been through hell. She had her parents killed right in front of her and has been held hostage for the last several weeks.”
The release of the girl follows a string of captive releases since Friday, when Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire. Israel has started an unprecedented air and ground assault on Gaza, where Hamas is situated and controls, since the October 7 assaults.
The list included nine youngsters aged 17 and under, according to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Separately, Hamas told The Associated Press that it has freed one of the Russian captives it was keeping "in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin" and to express gratitude for Moscow's stance on the war.
According to reports, the Russian-Israeli citizen was the first male hostage to be freed. Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told state-run TASS that "the holder of a Russian passport was released and handed over to the Red Cross" on Sunday and that "Russian diplomats will visit him as soon as possible."
As part of the agreement, Israel intended to release 39 Palestinian inmates later Sunday. A fourth exchange is scheduled on Monday, the penultimate day of the ceasefire, during which 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian inmates would be released. They are all ladies and minors.
President Biden also stated on Sunday that his government hopes to extend the truce in order to resume the freeing of captives.
“For weeks, I’ve been advocating the pause in the fighting for two purposes: to increase the assistance getting in to the Gaza civilians who need help, and to facilitate the release of hostages,” he said.
Mr. Netanyahu visited the Gaza Strip ahead of the latest release and met with troops. "We are making every effort to return our hostages, and at the end of the day, we will return each and every one," he stated, adding that "we are continuing until the end, until victory." Nothing will stop us." It was unclear where he traveled inside Gaza.
According to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, more than 13,300 Palestinians have been murdered, with nearly two-thirds of them being women and youngsters, however this figure could not be independently corroborated. More than 1,200 Israelis have died in the conflict, the majority of them were civilians slain by Hamas in the initial onslaught.
During the assault into southern Israel that sparked the war, Hamas and other factions kidnapped around 240 persons. Fifty-eight people have been liberated, one by Israeli troops, and two have been found dead within Gaza.
Qatar, Egypt, and the United States mediated the ceasefire. Israel has declared that the cease-fire can be prolonged by one day for every ten hostages rescued, but that it will restart its onslaught as soon as it expires. According to Mr. Sullivan, the US is working "with all parties on the possibility that this deal is extended to additional hostages beyond the initial 50."
Mr. Sullivan told CNN that it is unclear whether the other US Americans kidnapped by Hamas are still alive.
“We cannot say for certain whether all three of them are still alive. But we do know this: We have reason to believe that today, one American will be released,” he said.
