UPDATED 11:31 A.M.
NANTUCKET, Massachusetts (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Sunday said a 4-year-old U.S. hostage was released from captivity in Gaza and returned to Israel as part of a truce.
Biden said the hostage, Abigail Edan, had witnessed her parents being killed by Hamas fighters during an Oct. 7 raid into Israel and had been held as a hostage since then.
“What she endured is unthinkable,” Biden said at a news conference.
Biden said he would speak later in the day with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to swap 50 hostages held by the Palestinian militant group for 150 prisoners in Israeli jails over a four-day truce period.
It is the first halt in the conflict since Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
In response to that attack, Israel vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, bombarding the enclave and mounting a ground offensive in the north. Palestinian health authorities say some 14,800 people, roughly 40% of them children, have died.
Biden said he hopes other American hostages would be released by Hamas as well. He said he would like to see the pause in the fighting extended as long as prisoners are being released.
“We will not stop working until every hostage is returned to their loved ones,” Biden said.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Moira Warburton in Washington and Jason Lange in Buffalo, NY; Editing by David Goodman, Alexander Smith and Mark Porter)
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NANTUCKET, Massachusetts (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday said a 4-year-old American hostage has been released in Gaza and that he hopes a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas fighters can continue to exchange prisoners.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said there was “reason to believe” a U.S. hostage would be released from captivity in Gaza on Sunday.
“We have reason to believe that one of those Americans will be released today,” Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Sullivan declined to give the identity of the hostage who might be released. When asked whether it was a 4-year-old girl whose parents were killed, he said: “We have a sense of who it is but I am just not in a position to confirm it.”
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have a call scheduled for later on Sunday, Sullivan told CBS News.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to swap 50 hostages held by the Palestinian militant group for 150 prisoners in Israeli jails over a four-day truce period.
So far, Hamas has released 26 Israelis and four Thai nationals it had held as hostages, while Israel has freed 78 Palestinians.
Egypt, which is helping to mediate the deal, says it has received lists of 13 Israelis and 39 Palestinians scheduled for a third release on Sunday.
It is the first halt in the conflict since Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
In response to that attack, Israel vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, bombarding the enclave and mounting a ground offensive in the north. Palestinian health authorities say some 14,800 people, roughly 40% of them children, have died.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Moira Warburton in Washington and Jason Lange in Buffalo, NY; Editing by David Goodman, Alexander Smith and Mark Porter)
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