President Joe Biden on Friday praised “extensive U.S. diplomacy” for the release of Hamas hostages, but said it was “just a start” as no U.S. citizen had yet been released.
He told reporters that he was not sure when the first U.S. citizens would leave Gaza, as two U.S. women and four-year-old Abigail Mor Edan are believed to be among the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terror attack Israel.
Biden addressed the nation Friday afternoon from the White Elephant Hotel on Nantucket while spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his family on the island of Massachusetts and staying at a $34 million waterfront estate.
“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 what the list of all the hostages is and when they will be released, but we do know the numbers that will be released.”
“So I hope and expect that it will happen soon,” the president added.
President Joe Biden on Friday praised “extensive U.S. diplomacy” for the release of Hamas hostages, but said it was “just a start” as no U.S. citizen had yet been released
He said he had hoped to hear news about the U.S. citizens being held hostage before addressing the press.
“In the next hour or so we’ll know what the second wave of releases is. And I’m confident that’s what we expect,” Biden said.
He called today’s releases – reportedly 13 Israelis, 10 Thai prisoners and a Filipino citizen – “the beginning of a process.”
“We expect more hostages to be released tomorrow, more the day after, and more the day after,” he said. “We expect that dozens of hostages will be returned to their families in the next few days.”
Abigail Mor Edan lost both parents in Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel on October 7 and is considered the youngest US citizen in the hands of the terrorist group. She turns four today
He acknowledged that among the missing were two American women and a four-year-old, Edan.
Edan’s fourth birthday is today.
“We will not stop until we bring these hostages home and receive an answer as to their whereabouts,” Biden promised.
The president also acknowledged that the US did not know what condition the American hostages were in.
The White House confirmed earlier Friday that there were no U.S. citizens in the first group of hostages released by Hamas.
Earlier on Friday, Biden was briefed several times by his national security team on the latest developments related to the release of the Gaza hostages, the White House said.
“This morning I was busy with my team as the difficult first days of implementing this deal begin,” Biden said. “It’s just a start, but so far it’s been going well.”
So far, 25 people have been released since the terror group kidnapped and trafficked hundreds into the area during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The president noted that this 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 to the International Red Cross by Hamas militants
Dr. Jill Biden (left) touches the arm of her husband President Joe Biden (right) as they leave a room at the White Elephant Hotel on Nantucket, which the White House used for the president to deliver remarks on the Gaza hostage release
“All of these hostages have endured a terrible ordeal and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” Biden said. “The teddy bears waiting to greet these children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children endured at such a young age.”
As the president and first lady Jill Biden delivered Thanksgiving pumpkin pies to the Nantucket Fire Department on Thursday, 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 U.S. citizen to be held by Hamas.
“When I think that Friday is Abigail’s fourth birthday and that 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 and burst into tears she spoke.
The toddler was reportedly being held by her father, photojournalist Roy Edan, when he and her mother, Smadar Edan, were shot dead by Hamas terrorists.
“It’s like when you get your feelings, you have to keep them under control because if you don’t, you think about nine-month-olds, little girls, little boys, mothers and you just hope that there’s someone who can take those little kids holds,” said Naftali.
“When people ask that, I’m not a politician, I’m not a diplomat. I will believe it when I see them going out, being expelled and being free,” Naftali also said.