Biden hopes for extension as Gaza enters final day

US President Joe Biden said he hoped the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas can go on as long as hostages are being released, after the Palestinian group freed 17 more people, including a 4-year-old Israeli-American girl.

Hamas said it wanted to extend the pause in fighting, which will enter its fourth day and final agreed day on Monday, if serious efforts were made to increase the number of Palestinian detainees released by Israel. Thirty-nine teenage Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel on Sunday, taking the total since the truce began to 117.

Hamas said it had handed over 13 Israelis, three Thais and one with Russian citizenship, and the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had successfully transferred them from Gaza on Sunday.

Biden said the 4-year-old hostage, Abigail Edan, had witnessed her parents being killed by Hamas fighters during their Oct 7 rampage into Israel and had been held since then.

“What she endured is unthinkable,” Biden said at a news conference in the US.