United States President Joe Biden on Friday (Nov 24) said that the release of the first batch of hostages abducted by Hamas was just the beginning and that there were “real” chances of the temporary truce in Gaza being extended.
During a media briefing in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his family, Biden also underlined that now was the time to “renew” the efforts on creating a two-state solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Twenty-four hostages were released by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday, which included 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a Filipino.
On the other hand, as part of the deal, Israel freed 39 women and minors held in its prisons, the Qatari foreign ministry said.
“This morning, I’ve been engaged with my team as we began the first difficult days of implementing this deal. It’s only a start, but so far it’s gone well. Earlier this morning, 13 Israeli hostages were released, including an elderly woman, a grandmother and mothers with their young children, some under the age of six years old. Separately, several Thai nationals and Filipino nationals were also kidnapped by Hamas on the seventh, they were released as well,” Biden said.
Expressing concern for the hostages released, the US president said that the ones held captive by Hamas went through a very hard time and that it was the start of a long journey for them towards healing.
“All of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” he added.
Biden, who had helmed US efforts to secure the release of the hostages and also put a pause to the brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas militants, said, “Today has been a product a lot of hard work and weeks of personal engagement. From the moment Hamas kidnapped these people, I, along with my team, have worked around the clock to secure the release. We saw the first results of this ever with the release of two American hostages in late October, followed by the release of two Israeli hostages.”
“I’ve consistently pressed for a pause in the fighting for two reasons to accelerate and expand humanitarian assistance going into Gaza, and two, to facilitate the release of hostages. And over the past several weeks, I’ve spoken repeatedly with the emir of Qatar, the President El-Sisi of Egypt, and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to help secure this deal, to nail it down. And I want to thank all three leaders for their personal partnership to get this done,” he added.
He then called for more comprehensive steps to end the crisis with a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.
“We need to renew our resolve to pursue this two-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians can one-day live side by side in a two-state solution,” the US president said.
(With inputs from agencies)
