Biden welcomes release of 4-year-old US-Israeli Avigail Idan who ‘endured the unthinkable’

US President Joe Biden says he, his wife, and so “many Americans are praying” that 4-year-old Israeli-American Avigail Idan will be all right after she was released from Hamas captivity earlier today.

Idan 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, Biden says. She then ran to her neighbors’ home where she, along with those inside, were taken hostage into Gaza.

“What she endured is unthinkable,” Biden says, noting that she celebrated her 4th birthday on Friday in captivity and that he had personally pressed for her release in a recent call with the emir of Qatar.

Biden says he is continuing to work for the release of the remaining hostages, who include eight US citizens and one US Green Card holder. Two other dual Israeli-American nationals are also expected to be released during the ongoing truce. The seven others are male adults, who are not included in the current deal.

The US president says he is hopeful the truce will be extended and pledges to continue working until all hostages are released.

Israel has agreed to extend the four-day truce by an additional day for every extra 10 Israeli hostages released.

He says he has pushed for a pause for weeks in order to get hostages out of Gaza and more humanitarian aid into the Strip. Roughly 200 trucks of aid have entered Gaza during the past three days of the truce, the president says.

Biden notes that “innocent children in Gaza are suffering greatly as well because this war that Hamas has unleashed,” leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.

He again stresses his plan to advance a two-state solution after the war.

“I get a sense that all the players in the region… are looking for a way to end this so the hostages are all released and [that] Hamas is…no longer in control any portion of Gaza,” Biden says.