Biden hopes for extension of Israel-Hamas truce as more hostages released

US President Joe Biden said he hoped the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas can go on as long as hostages are being released, after the Palestinian group freed 17 more people, including a 4-year-old Israeli-American girl.

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

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

Abigail was on her way to the hospital for checks, Israel's Channel 13 said. Her grandfather, Carmel Edan, told Reuters he "simply could not believe" she had been returned, thanking Biden "for all the help he's offered us."

The four-day truce agreed last week is the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages back into Gaza.

People walk past an image of 4-year-old Abigail Edan, a hostage held by Hamas who was released on Sunday. AP

In response to that attack, Israel has bombarded the enclave and mounted a ground offensive in the north. Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke to Biden about the hostage release, adding he would welcome extending the temporary truce if it meant that on every additional day 10 captives would be freed. However, Netanyahu said he also told Biden that, at the end of the truce, "we will return with full force to achieve our goals: The elimination of Hamas, ensuring that Gaza does not return to what it was; and of course the release of all our hostages."

Reuters