US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he believes that reaching an agreement to secure the release of some hostages held by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza is imminent.
“I think so,” he told reporters, when asked at the White House about a possible agreement.
Reuters reported last week, citing an official familiar with the talks, that Qatari mediators were seeking an agreement between Israel and Hamas to exchange 50 hostages in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, which would help boost emergency aid shipments to civilians in Gaza.
Hamas militants took with them about 240 hostages during their surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7, which was followed by an Israeli attack on the small Palestinian enclave with the aim of eliminating the Hamas movement.
Israeli statistics indicate that about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack.
The Hamas-run government in Gaza said that at least 13,300 Palestinians, including 5,600 children and 3,550 women, had been killed in ongoing Israeli bombing since then.
Although the fighting continues, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, told ABC News on Sunday that Israel hopes Hamas will release a large number of hostages “in the coming days.”
#Biden #believes #hostage #release #agreement #coming
2023-11-20 17:52:43
