Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that a lack of U.S. citizens among the hostages freed by the Hamas terrorist group shows “no respect” for America under President Joe Biden.
Israeli forces have confirmed that 17 hostages—13 Israelis and 4 Thai abductees—were released by Hamas on Saturday as part of a second batch of liberated captives, with no Americans among them. Hamas on Friday released 24 hostages, including 13 Israelis, 10 people from Thailand, and one from the Philippines.
Hamas released two U.S. citizens on Oct. 20, but no Americans have been freed since. According to U.S. intelligence, there are around 10 Americans among the hostages still held by the Hamas terror group, which took captives when it raided Israeli settlements on Oct. 7 and brutally killed over 1,000 people.
Biden on Vacation
Meanwhile, President Biden said Friday while vacationing in Nantucket, Massachusetts, that he expects American hostages will be released.“We don’t know when that will occur, but we’re going to expect it to occur,” President Biden said.
“We don’t know what the list of all the hostages are and when they will be released, but we know the numbers that are going to be released, So it’s my hope and expectation it will be soon,” he added.
The president is facing growing pressure over the U.S. citizens still being held captive by Hamas.
Hostage Release
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli forces confirmed that 17 hostages—including 8 children—were released by Hamas as part of a second group of freed abductees, after an earlier delay by the terror group sparked concerns that the hostages-for-prisoners swap deal might fall apart.“The commanders of the IDF and its soldiers salute and embrace the returning hostages upon their return home,” the IDF said in the statement. “We will continue to work together with the defense establishment’s bodies for the return of all the hostages,” the statement continues, while calling on the public to “show patience and sensitivity and respect the privacy of released hostages and their families.”
Hamas Delay
Hamas on Friday released the first batch of hostages as part of a four-day truce agreed to between Hamas and Israel in order to allow for the hostage-prisoner exchange and aid to flow into Gaza.The second batch of Israeli hostages was supposed to be released on Saturday but Hamas initially said that it had delayed the release of the hostages due to a dispute over the entry of aid trucks into Gaza and other issues.
The Hamas terror group’s al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement Saturday that the second round of hostage releases would be delayed if Israel did not adhere to the agreed terms of the hostages-for-prisoners release.
Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan told the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV channel that the delay was due to violations of the truce by Israel “linked to aid [entering Gaza], in addition to shootings and the rising death toll ... Some of [these violations] happened yesterday, and repeated today.”
Also, a senior Hamas official confirmed the delay to British news outlet BBC, claiming that Israel had allowed only three trucks out of 100 to reach northern Gaza.
Israel denied breaking agreed on terms in the hostages-for-prisoners swap deal and denounced the delay as a stalling tactic meant to add “stress” to the families of the captives.
“As much as I can feel the pain of the families who wanted to see their loved ones already on Israeli soil, I'd remind them that yesterday there was also a delay,” he said. “Maybe today there’s less excuses for a Hamas delay because they’ve had two days of a cease-fire and so they can’t say it’s more difficult, it should have been easier today.”
“But when dealing with a group like Hamas we need nerves of steel,” he continued. “If they can stress people on our side a bit longer they'll try to do so, but they have their commitment,” Mr. Regev said, adding that Hamas had promised to release a total of 50 Israeli hostages during the four-day pause.
Mr. Regev confirmed that aid trucks had reached northern Gaza, as arranged.
Also, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that 200 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Friday via Egypt’s Rafah crossing “as part of the framework for the release of the hostages, as agreed with the U.S. and mediated by Qatar and Egypt.”
Under the cease-fire deal, Hamas was set to release one Israeli hostage for every three Palestinians freed.
Overall, the terror group agreed to release at least 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for Israel freeing 150 Palestinian prisoners, all women and minors. On Saturday, 39 Palestinian prisoners were freed.
Israel has said it’s prepared to extend the truce by one extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.
