On Friday, Hamas terrorists released 13 Israeli hostages, including women and children. In a separate deal, Hamas released 12 Thai workers they captured on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel during their attack and massacre of 1,400 innocent civilians. There were no Americans.
On Saturday, the Israeli Defense Forces, IDF, announced that Hamas released a second set of Israeli and Thai hostages.
According to the IDF, 13 Israeli and 4 Thai hostages were released. This was after Hamas delayed their release earlier Saturday. Again, no Americans were released.
On Sunday, the International Red Cross announced the latest release of Israeli hostages by Hamas. Hamas released 14 Israeli captives and 3 foreign nationals, including a 4-year-old American girl.
A 4-year-old Israeli-American girl with dual citizenship whose parents were killed was one of the hostages released on Sunday.
Joe Biden on Sunday delivered remarks on the release of Israeli and American hostages by Hamas terrorists. He went off-script and made a creepy comment about 4-year-old Abigail Edan during his remarks to reporters.
“Thank God she’s home. The little – I just can’t imagine the enjoyment…I just wish I were there to hold her,” Biden said.
“Do you have an update on the other Americans who are being held and any sense as to when they would be released?” a reporter asked after Biden gushed over the 4-year-old child.
“Uhh, we are hopeful, but I don’t have anything firmly to tell you at this moment,” Biden said.
“Have you extracted any guarantees about proof of life for other hostages or do you have an expectation how much longer you can push this pause?” a reporter asked Biden.
Biden said he doesn’t know: “I’m hopeful this is not the end, that it’s gonna continue, but we don’t know.”
It can be recalled that Joe Biden took a victory lap Friday, holding a press conference to boast about leading ceasefire negotiations that saw Hamas release 24 hostages (13 Israelis as well as 10 Thais and one Filipinos in a side deal) earlier Friday in exchange for Israel releasing 39 convicted Palestinian terrorists and the delivery to Hamas-controlled Gaza of hundreds of trucks carrying food, fuel and humanitarian aid. (Two Israelis and two Americans were previously released by Hamas a month ago.)
Biden admitted in response to a reporter’s questions that he has no idea if the ten Americans unaccounted for in the aftermath of the October 7 terror attack by Hamas on Israel and presumed held hostage by Hamas are alive or dead or whether they will be released.
National Security Council spokesperson and retired Rear Admiral John Kirby admitted to limited insight on the plight of American hostages held by Hamas terrorists during a CBS interview. As eight American citizens and one permanent U.S. resident remain captive, the United States grapples with growing concern for their safety and well-being.
Abigail, who turned four during her 50-day captivity and whose parents were tragically killed, is receiving necessary medical care, officials say. The focus remains on the child’s recovery as she begins to reunite with family amidst this traumatic period.
While discussing the broader context of the hostage crisis, Kirby admitted they have limited information on the hostages.
“We don’t have a whole lot of information about them, where they are, what condition they might be in, or what exactly the schedule would be for their release,” said Kirby.
A contributing factor to the U.S. government’s lack of information on the hostages’ condition is, reportedly, the absence of the International Red Cross’s presence in response to repeated appeals to verify the well-being of the captives.
The email sent to The Gateway Pundit read as follows:
Rabbi Pesach Wolicki called me from Israel 3 times today. For the first time in his life, he broke Shabbat, because he said it is urgent that people know it’s been a week and the international Red Cross has been AWOL on the Israeli hostages (this includes Americans).
The question is, does the International Red Cross support Hamas?
Now, any elected official who condemned Hamas needs to issue a second statement calling on the international Red Cross to do their job and call for immediate knowledge of the hostages and for their immediate release. We did a pro Israel conference at Regent with Rabbi Wolicki last year and we’re holding another this year at Regent. He is very smart, lived in the US, speaks with a full American accent, and speaks very well on media. I urge you to have him on your platforms ASAP.
I think all pressure should be on these two points:
- “Where’s the Red Cross?” exactly as Nitsana presents it. The beauty of this is that while Hamas can ignore US calls for release, the Red Cross can’t ignore public pressure from heads of state and media.
- Every country that condemned the Hamas atrocities must now be called upon to issue a statement demanding Hamas release all civilian hostages and bodies.
“The Red Cross is tasked with tracking those being held captive in times of war and ensuring they are being treated humanly and provided appropriate medical care. The Red Cross is obligated to make every effort to visit the captives and directly ensure their safe treatment and rights. They have a responsibility to report to the families, but the Red Cross is refusing to carry out its duties on behalf of the Israeli Hamas hostages. When we approached them, they said, “they weren’t active in Gaza,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, President of Shurat Hadin.
“But look what they tweeted just an hour later: “During the darkest hours of our presence in Gaza, we never envisaged a scenario where 2 million civilians could possibly live through heavy bombing, deprived of water, food, electricity, and medicine,” she added.
“So the Red Cross is actually there. They are in Gaza. They’re just turning a blind eye to the plight and conditions of the Israeli hostages. We all know they are already intervening on behalf of the captured Hamas terrorists being held by Israel, and we urge the Israeli authorities not to allow this bias agency any access unless they intervene on behalf of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. But the Red Cross has to raise its voice,” she added.
