NANTUCKET/WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – According to US President Joe Biden, among the hostages released by the Islamist Hamas on Sunday is a four-year-old girl with US citizenship. “She is free and she is now in Israel,” Biden said at a short-term press conference in Nantucket, Massachusetts. “What she had to endure is unimaginable.”
Biden said the mother was killed in front of the girl in the attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7th. The father was also shot as he lay protectively over the girl. The child then ran to the neighbors on their kibbutz, who were also taken hostage. Last Friday it spent its fourth birthday in captivity.
In addition to the girl, two other US citizens, two women, are said to be among the approximately 50 hostages whose release was negotiated as part of the hostage agreement. When asked whether they had also been handed over on Sunday, Biden replied: “We are hopeful, but I can’t tell you anything specific at the moment.” They had not yet been released on Friday and Saturday.
A total of ten US citizens were recently reported missing. But it is unclear whether all those remaining are being held hostage by Hamas. According to US information, more than 30 US citizens were killed in the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7th./trö/DP/men