President Joe Biden confirmed Sunday that Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old American girl held hostage by Hamas after her parents were killed, was released as part of the cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war.
“Thank God she’s home,” Biden said told reporters. “I wish I were there to hold her.”
Abigail has dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship, and Biden said she was “safely in Israel.” She was the first U.S. hostage to be released under terms of the cease-fire. Biden said he did not have immediate information on Abigail’s condition. The White House said later that the president spoke by telephone with members of the girl’s family in the United States and Israel. He also spoke with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Strange that these articles don’t mention that almost no hostages are released “as-is” - for each Israeli hostage, 3 convicted prisoners (women and under 19y.o. “children”) had to be released by Israel.
Their crimes include shooting and stabbing attacks, car rammings, and at least one case of explosive-car-rigging…
The only exception are 12-16 Thai and Philippinian foreign nationals, which were actually released after being held hostage illegally for almost 50 days.