President Biden told reporters on Friday that he was unsure when Hamas will release American hostages as part of a deal with Israel, after the terrorist group did not hand over any American citizens in the first group of hostages to be released. over a period of four days. pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“We don’t know when that will happen,” the 81-year-old president said in response to a reporter’s question.
“We will wait for this to happen and we don’t know what the list of all the hostages is and when they will be released, but we know the numbers that will be released,” Biden said.
He added: “I have the hope and expectation that it will be soon.”
Hamas freed 24 hostages on Friday and agreed to release another 26 over the next three days, out of some 240 hostages taken in southern Israel on October 7.
The initial group consisted of 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and one Filipino.
Biden addressed the hostage crisis from Nantucket Island in Massachusetts, where he and his family are vacationing at the home of billionaire David Rubenstein.
The president also said Friday that the U.S. government is not sure exactly how many American hostages are still alive after the Oct. 7 attacks, which killed about 1,200 people, including at least 33 U.S. citizens.
Nine US citizens and one permanent resident remain missing.
“We don’t know all of their conditions,” Biden said when asked if the hostages are known to be alive.
The president also said he expected to know later on Friday which hostages would be freed by Hamas on Saturday in the second of four planned group releases.
“We are waiting now. It’ll just be a matter of (I thought maybe even as soon as I got here) but in the next hour we’ll know what the second wave of releases are. And I am hopeful that it will be as successful as we anticipate,” Biden said.
Biden referred to three Americans who could be part of the initial hostage agreement, which will prioritize the delivery of children and women.
“We also remember all those still detained and renew our commitment to also work for their release: two American women and a four-year-old girl, Abigail, who remains among the missing,” he said. “We also will not stop until we bring these hostages home and have an answer about their whereabouts.”
The pause in fighting as part of the hostage deal comes as Biden faces pressure from left-wing Democrats to convince Israel to stop its attack on Gaza in a bid to overthrow the Hamas-led government there.
Protesters on Nantucket chanted “Free Palestine!” and “cease fire!” to Biden moments after his comments.
Biden told reporters that the “chances are real” that the four-day pause in fighting will be extended longer and that the truce “provides a critical opportunity to deliver much-needed food, medicine, water and fuel to civilians.” in Gaza.”
“Hamas doesn’t give a damn about them,” he added.
Israel’s government says the truce can be extended if Hamas releases 10 additional hostages per day after the initial four-day period.
In addition to the truce, Israel agreed to release 150 imprisoned Palestinian women and children as part of the deal brokered by the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Although there were no Americans in the initial release, Biden noted that Hamas released two American citizens on October 20.
“Today has been the product of a lot of hard work and weeks of personal commitment. From the moment Hamas kidnapped these people, I and my team have worked day and night to secure their release. We saw the first results of this with the release of two American hostages in late October, followed by the release of two Israeli hostages,” he said.
Biden risks political fallout the longer the hostage crisis continues, with some commentators pointing to possible parallels to the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981, in which 52 Americans were held for 444 days, contributing to condemn the re-election attempt of then-President Jimmy Carter.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn