Hostages released by Hamas today are not expected to be among the hostages, a government official has confirmed.
The White House said it remains “hopeful” that American citizens will be involved in the release of hostages in the coming days, but that they were not included in the runoff scheduled to take part on Saturday.
“The president has secured the release of two American citizens as a pilot for this expanded hostage release,” a White House official said Saturday.
“We are still at the early stages of the process with at least 50 women and children being released under the first phase of the agreement.
“We are hopeful that there will be three women and children with dual citizenship who are U.S. citizens. This will unfold over the next few days. We will not comment on individual cases as the process is ongoing,” she 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
Aviv Asher, 2.5 years old, her sister Raz Asher, 4.5 years old, and mother Doron, react as they step out of 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 hostage American citizens would be released, but said it was his “hope and expectation that this will happen soon.”
Biden cited “extensive U.S. diplomacy” for Hamas’ release of hostages, but said this is “just a start” as no U.S. citizens have been released yet.
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 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.
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 after hundreds were kidnapped by the terror group and brought to the area.
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.”
However, Hamas’ armed wing has said the second round of Israeli hostage releases will be postponed due to a dispute over aid.
The hostages will not be released until Israel agrees to allow aid trucks into northern Gaza, the group said on Saturday.
Egypt and Qatar are reportedly trying to resolve the delay in the second round of the release of Israeli hostages from Gaza.
Hamas’ armed wing said on Saturday it was delaying the transfer of a second group of hostages until Israel “complies with the terms of the agreement.”
Bunyarin Srijan, the mother of a Thai hostage released as part of a hostage and prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel, holds her phone with an image of her daughter, Natthawaree Mulkan, during an interview at her home in Khon Kaen, Thailand on November 25.
Released Israeli child hostages are held by Israeli soldiers shortly after their arrival in Israel on November 24
The access of humanitarian aid to the north of the Gaza Strip and the selection criteria for the liberation of prisoners were the issues in question, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.
An Israeli official confirmed to AFP that the hostages have not yet been handed over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades said the release of the hostages would be delayed if Israel did not adhere to agreed conditions for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
There was no immediate Israeli response to the statement. Earlier, an Israeli military spokesman told French television station BFM that, barring last-minute changes, 13 Israeli hostages were expected to be released.
He said that in return, 39 Palestinian prisoners would be released.
Under the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar, a total of 50 hostages will be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been convicted on weapons charges and violent crimes, for four days.
In the first exchange on Friday, 13 Israeli women and children – among some 240 hostages captured by Hamas fighters in a killing spree in southern Israel on October 7 – were released. Twenty-four imprisoned Palestinian women and fifteen teenagers were released from Israeli prisons.
Saturday’s setback came just hours after Egypt, which controls the Rafah crossing into southern Gaza through which vital aid deliveries have resumed, said it had received “positive signals” from all sides about a possible extension of that deal.
