Israel received a list of hostages for Sunday’s release from Hamas that includes some Americans.
Two Israeli officials told Axios about the American identity of some of the victims expected to be freed in the third exchange since the warring sides entered a truce Friday. National-security adviser Jake Sullivan similarly told NBC News Sunday that the White House has “reason to believe that at least one American will be released today.”
One child who may be included in the transaction is a four-year-old girl named Abigail Edan, who became an orphan during Hamas’ onslaught when the terrorist group murdered her parents, the New York Post reported. Edan turned four in Hamas’s custody.
“We hope [4-year-old] Abigail Edan will be released but we can’t know for sure until it happens,” Sullivan said. Her return home will mark the first time Hamas has freed an American captive since the war erupted.
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 a 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.”