Hamas has released two American hostages held in Gaza as Israel continue to pound the densely-populated territory where millions waited for promised aid deliveries.
Hamas took more than 200 people hostage when it stormed into Israel from Gaza on October 7, in an attack that saw at least 1,400 people dead, according to Israeli officials.
The fate of the hostages has been shrouded in uncertainty, so the release of mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan offered a rare “sliver of hope”, said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Trucks carrying relief the United Nations calls a “lifeline” are still stuck on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, though Biden said movement could begin in the “next 24 to 48 hours”.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, and says around 1,500 of the group’s fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the area under attack on October 7.
Biden said Friday he believes the attack was motivated partly by Saudi Arabia’s plan to recognise Israel.
Israel has levelled entire city blocks in Gaza, killing 4,137 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israeli troops are massed on the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion that officials have pledged will begin “soon”.
But a full-blown land offensive carries many risks, including to hostages from Israel and around the world held by Hamas.
Biden thanked Qatar, which hosts Hamas’ political bureau, for its mediation in securing the release.
Hamas said Egypt and Qatar had negotiated the release and it was “working with all mediators to implement the movement’s decision to close the civilian (hostage) file if appropriate security conditions allow”.
There is little information about the hostages, though Israel’s military said Friday “the majority” are still alive, and agonised families have demanded more action.
“Absolutely nothing has been done,” Assaf Shem Tov, whose nephew was abducted from a music festival, said Friday.
Humanitarian aid stuck
Some 2.4 million Palestinians live in Gaza, and almost half have been displaced, according to the UN.
Israel has cut off supplies of water, electricity, fuel and food to the long-blockaded territory.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday that humanitarian relief stuck in Egypt was “the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza”.
And World Health Organization emergencies director Michael Ryan said Biden’s deal for an initial 20 truck-delivery was “a drop in the ocean of need” and that 2,000 trucks were required.
At least 30 percent of all housing in Gaza has been destroyed or damaged, the UN says, citing local authorities, and thousands have taken refuge in a tent city set up in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis.
Fadwa al-Najjar said she and her seven children walked for 10 hours to reach the camp, at some points breaking into a run as air strikes descended around them.
“We saw bodies and limbs torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die,” she told AFP.
“I would have preferred not to leave, to have stayed at home and died there,” her daughter Malak added.
Protests have erupted over the conflict across the region and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi will host a peace summit on Saturday attended by regional and some Western leaders.
