Screengrab from a video released by the Hamas Movement.
United States President Joe Biden said on November 24 that the release of a first group of Israeli hostages taken by the Hamas Movement was just a “start”.
Speaking to reporters in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his family, Biden said that there were “real” chances to extend a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“I think the chances are real,” Biden said at a press conference.
Biden declined to speculate on how long Israel’s war against Hamas might last, saying that eliminating the group was a legitimate but difficult mission.
A total of 24 hostages, 13 Israelis, ten Thais and a Filipino, were turned over on the first day of the ceasefire to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza by Hamas. From its side, Israel freed 39 women and children held in its prisons.
A second group of 14 hostages will be released on the second day of the ceasefire. Israel has already received the list of hostages who are slated to be released, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on November 25. In exchange, another 39 Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.
Also as a part of the ceasefire agreement, 196 aid trucks were allowed to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on November 25
“The trucks contain eight trucks of medical supplies and medicines, and four trucks of hospital beds while the remaining trucks contain food, water, and relief assistance,” the Palestine Red Crescent Society said on X, previously known as Twitter.
Under the current agreement, Hamas will release only 50 out of more than 240 Israeli who were taken hostages during the October 7 surprise attack on Israel. In exchange for their release, some 150 Palestinians prisoners will be freed from Israeli jails.
Israel repeatedly said that its top priority was freeing all the hostages, thus it will likely agree to extend the ceasefire in Gaza and release more Palestinian prisoners.
