The cease-fire negotiated between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization led to the release of more than a dozen hostages during its first day. The release comes as the two sides are set to carry out a four or five-day cessation of hostilities.
Hamas released 13 women and children as part of the cease-fire terms, although it was not clear yet if any of the 10 Americans held by the terrorist group would be released.
President Joe Biden said Friday that the White House was gathering information and that he does not “trust Hamas to do anything right.”
“I only trust Hamas to respond to pressure,” he said.
U.S. President Biden has stated that they expect for the List of Hostages being Released tomorrow by Hamas to be announced in the next few hours, however he stated that he doesn’t know if American Nationals will be included in that List but that he hopes they will be Released… pic.twitter.com/LNLty1mxk3
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 24, 2023
Photos show masked Hamas members releasing several elderly women to the Red Cross Friday morning.
As part of the cease-fire, hostages would be released each day. In exchange, Israel would allow supplies to enter Gaza, which is partially occupied as part of the ongoing military mission.
As of this writing, another wave of hostages were to be released by the militant group.
In addition, Israel promised to release more than 100 Palestinians from its jails.
The entire cease-fire did not go as originally planned. The shooting was due to end on Thursday morning but was delayed by a day. Furthermore, about 15 minutes after the cease-fire began another Palestinian group fired several missiles into Israel.
The temporary halt to the fighting was negotiated by Qatar and the United States, with assistance from Egypt. Qatar has positive relations with both the U.S. and Iran, which is a prime backer of Hamas and related militant groups.
Hamas and its allies took an unknown number of hostages during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, which killed more than 1,200 people. It is currently unknown how many hostages are in the custody of the terrorist group.
In addition to the release, the Israeli military also rescued several hostages during its operations.
Currently, Israel occupies much of the northern, more populated, part of the Gaza Strip. The country vowed that it would remove Hamas from power.
