President Joe Biden of the United States stated on Sunday that he hoped to see the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas extended.
“That’s my goal, that’s our goal—to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief into those in need in Gaza,” Biden stated.
The three-day-old truce “is delivering live-saving results,” Biden added, emphasizing, “Critically needed aid is going in, and hostages are coming out.”
Biden’s remarks came as Hamas militants freed a third group of captives, including a four-year-old American child, on Sunday in exchange for the release of more Palestinian detainees.
This comes as a Hamas source indicated the party was eager to extend the truce.
The swaps under a four-day ceasefire that began Friday are the first relief for hostages’ relatives since the Islamist organization struck Israel on October 7, provoking catastrophic Israeli bombardments of Gaza.
According to reports, Sunday’s releases raised the total number of Israelis freed under the accord to 39 since Friday.
In exchange, 39 more Palestinian detainees were released on Sunday, according to the Israeli prison service.
This comes on the heels of the release of 78 other Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in the last two days.
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that the 13 released captives have returned to Israeli land, with four more on their way to Egypt.
Biden stated that the four-year-old American girl had been through trauma. “She’s been through a terrible trauma,” the president said of the girl, Abigail, whose parents were murdered by Hamas militants in the unprecedented attacks.
The other four were released outside the parameters of the truce, including one Russian-Israeli who Hamas stated was released “in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts.”
Those released were among approximately 240 seized on October 7, when Hamas gunmen breached Gaza’s militarized border with Israel and launched the worst onslaught in Israeli history, killing approximately 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israeli police.
According to the Hamas administration in Gaza, Israel responded by launching an air, artillery, and naval assault alongside a military offensive to eliminate Hamas, killing roughly 15,000 people, largely civilians, and including thousands of children.
