Biden speaks to family of 4-year-old US-Israeli freed from Gaza after he rallied for her release

US President Joe Biden spoke on the phone earlier today with members of the family of 4-year-old Israeli-American Avigail Idan, following her release from Hamas captivity earlier today, a senior Biden administration official says.

“The story of Avigail in many ways was a microcosm of the horror Hamas unleashed on October 7,” the administration official says in a statement to reporters, recalling how the young girl saw her mother killed in front of her in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during Hamas’s October 7 massacre and then ran to her father who shielded her with his body, as terrorists then shot him dead. She then ran to her neighbor’s home where she along with those inside were taken hostage into Gaza.

The US believes Idan was held in northern Gaza with those same neighbors, and Biden raised her plight in nearly every phone call he held with Israeli, Qatari, and Egyptian counterparts, the senior administration official says, adding that US officials have remained in touch with Idan’s family throughout the past 51 days of her captivity.

The Biden administration tracked her movement from northern Gaza as she was transferred from Hamas to the Red Cross and then re-routed directly into Israel, instead of Egypt’s Rafah Crossing because one of the other hostages she was with — an 84-year-old woman — needed urgent medical care, the senior official says.

“We are thrilled that Avigail is now home and back in the loving arms of her extended family. She will receive the care and attention she needs through the Israelis and we are also ready to provide all appropriate support,” the official adds.