Israel-Hamas war: 4 year old American girl whose parents were killed on October 7 freed by Hamas alongside Israeli and Thai hostages

     

 

 

 

 

A four-year-old American girl held by Hamas in Gaza was released on Sunday, November 26, US President Joe Biden said, as the militant group said it had handed over 13 Israeli hostages, three Thais and one person with Russian citizenship on the third day of a truce with Israel.

The release of some of the hostages captured when Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on October 7 is to be reciprocated by the Israelis who are expected to free up  39 Palestinian prisoners.

 

Biden said he hoped the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas can go on as long as prisoners are getting released. He said he hoped more Americans would be released by Hamas

 

Biden said the 4-year-old hostage, Abigail Edan, had witnessed her parents being killed by Hamas fighters during their October 7 raid into Israel and had been held since then.

 

"What she endured is unthinkable," Biden said at a news conference in the U.S.

The four-day truce is the first time in 7 weeks there has been a pause in the fighting. On October 7 Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages back into Gaza while Israel in response promised to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, bombarding the enclave and mounting a ground offensive in the north that has reportedly killed 14,800 Palestinians while hundreds of thousands habe displaced.

 

 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday met security forces inside the Gaza Strip and indicated that the campaign was far from over.

"Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the strength, the power, the will and the determination to achieve all the goals of the war, and that is what we will do," he said.

Egypt and Qatar acted as mediators on Saturday to maintain the truce.