A four-year-old American girl who was abducted by Hamas after the terror group killed her parents during its October 7 attack was released Sunday, President Biden announced.
The American-Israeli child, Abigail Edan, was among the 13 hostages freed Sunday from Gaza in the third such transaction since Hamas and Israel agreed to a hostage deal with a four-day cease-fire.
“Two days ago, two days ago, one of our fellow Americans, a little girl named Abigail, turned four years old,” Biden said. “She spent her birthday, that birthday . . . held hostage by Hamas. Today, she’s free, and Jill and I, together with so many Americans, are praying for the fact that she is going to be all right. She’s free, and she’s in Israel now.”
Israel had received a list of hostages for Sunday’s release from Hamas that included some Americans. National-security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC News Sunday that the White House has “reason to believe that at least one American will be released today.”
Edan became an orphan when Hamas murdered her parents in its October 7 rampage, the New York Post reported. Edan turned four in Hamas’s custody. Her release marks the first time Hamas has freed an American captive since the war erupted.
Earlier this month, Edan’s great-aunt Liz Hirsh Naftali told NBC News’ Lester Holt that the child’s parents were slaughtered in their home at the Kfar Aza kibbutz. Her father held her in his arms, until a Hamas terrorist shot and killed him. Edan then “crawled out from under her father’s body . . . full of his blood,” the relative told the network. Hirsh Naftali then said Hamas kidnapped Edan and the neighbors she was seeking shelter with and brought them to Gaza.
“What she endured is unthinkable,” Biden added. “Abigail was among 13 hostages released today from Gaza under the brokered and sustained though intensive U.S. diplomacy. She’s now safely in Israel. And we continue to press and expect for additional Americans will be released as well . . . And we will not stop working until every hostage is returned to their loved ones.”
A first group of hostages held by Hamas were released to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday and transported to the care of Shin Bet security forces. The hostages, composed of 13 women and children, were reportedly carried in Red Cross ambulances passing through the Rafah border crossing bound for Israel via Egypt after 49 days in captivity.
On Saturday, Hamas eventually released a planned second group of hostages from the Gaza Strip after delaying the transfer for hours in a hold-up that threatened to derail the four-day cease-fire deal with Israel. The second stage of the hostage-prisoner swap, which freed 13 Israeli and four Thai citizens in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners, finally took place almost eight hours after it was scheduled.
The delay occurred because Hamas accused Israel of violating the cease-fire, which Israel denied. Hamas also slow-walked the release because it claimed that Israel had allegedly failed to release the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners first.
In the hostage deal struck, Hamas and Israel negotiated the liberation of at least 50 Israeli women and children in exchange for at least 150 Palestinian women and minors that are imprisoned in Israel.
Some progressive publications and politicians have come under fire for downplaying the kidnappings and plight of the Israeli hostages under Hamas or for generally showing anti-Israel bias. For instance, Reuters called the hostages released in the second tranche “Israeli soldiers,” even though many of them were young children and teenagers. The New York Times published a headline, “2 Dozen Hostages Are Freed as Aid Heads into Gaza” alongside a picture of a Palestinian prisoner draped in what appears to be a Hamas flag.
Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar wrote on X of the return of an Irish-Israeli young girl named Emily Hand from Hamas detention: “This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”
An X community note on Varadkar’s post read: “Emily Hand was not ‘lost’, she was ‘kidnapped’, taken as hostage by Hamas. Kidnapping is against the law, being lost is not.”