US President Joe Biden celebrated this Sunday the release of 17 more hostages held by the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and said he was working towards a “two-state solution” as “the only way to guarantee long-term security.” “term” of both Israelis and Palestinians. At a press conference in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Biden expressed hope that the release of hostages would continue with the intervention of other countries in the region. “We are looking for a way to put an end to this and release all the hostages,” he said.

He had emotional words for Abigail Edan, a four-year-old American girl kidnapped and released today who he said had suffered “horrible trauma” although she is now “free and in Israel.” “What (Abigail) went through is unimaginable,” the president said of the girl whose father was killed in front of her. The White House said this afternoon that Biden spoke by phone with the girl’s relatives in the United States and Israel, and also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the recent hostage release and the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The two leaders spoke of “a truce in fighting and an increase in much-needed humanitarian assistance” in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu, for his part, thanked Biden for his “tireless efforts to assist in the negotiations and full implementation of this agreement” to free the hostages.

According to official Israeli and Palestinian sources, this Sunday Israel received 17 hostages released by the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, who were received by the Red Cross and are being transported to Israeli territory. Among those released were 14 Israelis and three Thais. One of the Israelis has Russian citizenship and was released as a gesture by Hamas to the Russian government in parallel with a hostage-prisoner exchange agreement under which 39 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are expected to be released this Sunday.

Release of 50 Israelis and 150 Palestinians

The agreement calls for the release of a total of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners and can be extended if Hamas commits to handing over at least ten captives per day. Biden stressed that he will continue to work closely with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Egyptian President Abdefalta el-Sisi and Israel’s Prime Minister “to do everything possible to ensure that all hostages” are released. “I will not stop working towards this goal,” he said, adding that he will continue to seek “with all our partners” “the difficult but necessary steps to build an inclusive, more prosperous and more peaceful future in the region.” “

The Israeli government published this Sunday the names of 14 Israeli hostages – four women, nine minors and a man with dual Russian citizenship – whom the Islamist group Hamas released this Sunday along with three Thais, making a total of 58 hostages released since the release. last Friday. The President was asked if he could use this as an opportunity to extend the pause in hostilities. “I have the feeling that all the actors in the region are looking for a way to end this, so that all the hostages are released and (…) Hamas no longer has any control over the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 following an attack by the Islamist group that included the launch of more than 4,000 rockets and the infiltration of about 3,000 militants, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 240 in Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israeli air, naval and ground forces have counter-attacked the Palestinian enclave, where more than 14,800 people have already died, most of them children and women, and it is estimated that more than 7,000 are missing under the rubble, so the death toll may be even higher.