‘Intense Process’ Underway to Secure Hostages Held by Hamas, but ’No Guarantee': White House

Hamas didn’t let anyone leave Gaza for weeks, the White House said about efforts to evacuate other Americans and foreign nationals from the enclave.
‘Intense Process’ Underway to Secure Hostages Held by Hamas, but ’No Guarantee': White House
Foreigners and dual nationals who fled Gaza for Egypt wait to be processed at Egypt's Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, on Nov. 2, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
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Efforts to secure hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip have required an “incredibly intense process,” with “absolutely no guarantee,” the Biden administration revealed on Nov. 3.

The Hamas terrorist group exercises strict control over Gaza, where it’s holding hundreds of hostages who were kidnapped from Israel when it attacked the country on Oct. 7.

“We are going to do all we possibly can to make sure that all the hostages of all nationalities come out of Gaza,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters in a call, noting that the process is “incredibly difficult, complex, [and] time-consuming.”

The official said the exact number of hostages is unclear but is more than 100 and possibly more than 200. Securing their release involves multiple approaches, including “indirect engagement to try to find a framework to get the hostages out of Gaza,” he said.

He said that the Oct. 20 release of two American hostages—a mother and daughter who are dual citizens of the United States and Israel—showed what is possible, but the large number of hostages that Hamas is holding makes the situation “extremely difficult.”

“Any arrangement to get 200 hostages out of Gaza is going to require a fairly significant pause in hostilities and the framework [is] being discussed,” he said.

“Should we get to that point, that [framework] would obviously go into place. ... Should that get into place, there'll be a very significant pause in hostilities to make sure that that arrangement can actually be implemented.

“In fact, when we got the two Americans out a couple of weeks ago, there was a limited pause, a kind of testing, pilot, to ensure that the hostages will be handed over to the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and then taken out of Gaza. So that was something that had been worked out and it went quite well.”

However, due to the difficulty with communicating with Hamas, the official said he “can’t put a timeframe” on getting the remaining hostages released.

“We are hopeful and doing everything we possibly can to get hostages out, but there’s absolutely no guarantee that it’s going to happen, or when it’s going to happen.”

Hamas Tried to Sneak Fighters Out of Gaza: White House

The White House shared on Nov. 1 that five Americans, who weren’t hostages, were able to leave Gaza.

The arrangement came after Hamas had finally agreed to allow American civilians to leave the enclave, along with wounded Palestinians and other foreign nationals.

President Joe Biden told reporters on Nov. 2 that another “74 American folks, dual citizens” were able to evacuate Gaza.

Hamas had significantly delayed efforts to evacuate civilians from the Gaza Strip, the senior Biden administration official said on Nov. 3. The terrorist group “did not allow anyone to leave Gaza,” he said, noting that this affected some 6,000 foreign nationals and about 500 U.S. citizens, mostly dual nationals, inside Gaza.

During a congressional hearing on Oct. 31, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that about 400 U.S. citizens and their families were stuck in Gaza, estimating the number to be about 1,000 including the families.

Hamas later said it would allow U.S. and foreign nationals to leave, “subject to a number of wounded Palestinians ... being allowed to leave as well,” the official told reporters on Nov. 3. However, when the list of wounded Palestinians was provided and vetted, about a third of them “were members of Hamas.”

This was “unacceptable” to the United States, Israel, and Egypt. The process of finding a mutually acceptable solution took time, and negotiations continued until the wounded Palestinians leaving Gaza didn’t include Hamas terrorists, the official said.

Qatar and Egypt “were critical” in the negotiations with the terrorist group, he noted.

The official also noted that the Rafah border crossing, where foreigners were to exit Gaza and enter Egypt, has a history of security concerns from Egypt dating back to 2008. At the time, there was a breach of the Rafah crossing by Hamas, which led to an influx of people from Gaza into Egypt. As such, the official said, the United States had to work carefully with Egypt and the United Nations to ensure the safe passage of people through the crossing.

The Gaza border authority on Nov. 2 released a list of foreign passport holders, totaling 600 individuals, who are allowed to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing, according to multiple reports. The number includes 400 Americans, as well as people from 14 other countries.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Nov. 2 that he expects that more American civilians will be able to leave Gaza “at a similar pace, if not better than what we’ve seen.”
Mimi Nguyen Ly
Mimi Nguyen Ly
Reporter
Mimi Nguyen Ly is a former reporter for The Epoch Times.
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