President Joe Biden claimed some credit for the negotiated release of hostages by Hamas and the release of prisoners by Israel on Friday, coinciding with the start of a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, stating that it was the “result of extensive U.S. diplomacy.”
The president stated that he and his staff have been attempting for weeks to bring an end to hostilities, advocating for the entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza and the release of individuals kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 in Israel.
The American president expressed gratitude to Israel, Egypt, and Qatar for the agreement that resulted in the release of some of the prisoners held by Hamas.
Though it’s just the beginning, Biden noted, “so far, it’s gone well.”
After seven weeks of fighting, Biden made his comments from Nantucket, Massachusetts, a few hours after the four-day cease-fire was scheduled to start.
Some of the 240 captives that Israel claims were taken by Hamas in an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 are now going home thanks to the cease-fire mediated by Qatar.
On Friday night, twenty-four hostages—13 Israeli women and children, ages two to eighty-five—were freed. The Qatari authorities reportedly said that Hamas freed ten Thai nationals and a Filipino who it had also kidnapped.
Simultaneously, 39 Palestinian women and male juveniles who had been detained or imprisoned were released by the Israeli authority.
“On Friday, International Committee of the Red Cross teams started a multiday operation to help free and move Palestinian detainees to the West Bank and hostages held in Gaza. Regarding the four-day ceasefire mediated by Qatar, the ICRC announced in a statement that “the operation will include the delivery of additional, much-needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”
In accordance with the cease-fire agreement, Israel will stop attacking Gaza for four days.
On its Telegram channel, Hamas verified that its soldiers would also cease their strikes.
Israel declared that for every ten more captives that Hamas frees, the four-day ceasefire would be extended by one day. By the fourth day of the truce, Doha aimed to mediate another arrangement to free more hostages from Gaza, according to a Qatari spokesperson.
In his speech on Friday, Biden stated that “chances are real” for an extension of the war’s temporary pause. He said that among those still missing were two American ladies and an American youngster who was four years old.
