Four-Year-Old American Girl Freed from Hamas Captivity

Peter Wade
·4 min read
5
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Four-year-old Abigail Mor Edan is returning home. The dual American Israeli citizen is the first American hostage to be released since the four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on Friday.

President Joe Biden celebrated the girl’s release, but said, “What she endured was unthinkable.” Edan is one of 17 hostages, aged four to 84, released by Hamas on Sunday, including nine children aged 17 and younger. One elderly hostage, Biden said, was “very sick and was in need of immediate medical help.”

“This deal is delivering life-saving results. Critically needed aid is going in, and hostages are coming out,” Biden said of the ceasefire, adding that the deal “is structured so that it can be extended to keep building on these results.”

“That’s my goal,” Biden added. “To keep this pause going beyond tomorrow.”

Some of the released hostages were handed to Israel, while others left Gaza through Egypt, the AP reported. According to Israel’s army, one hostage was airlifted to a hospital.

“The initial hostage deal involves the release of women and children, and there are three Americans in that category: two women and one young child. And we have reason to believe that one of those Americans will be released today,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker on Sunday, possibly referring to Edan.

“I don’t know how [she’ll be] when she comes back,” the girl’s grandfather, Carmel Edan, said according to The Times of Israel. “When she comes back, she won’t know she’s an orphan.”

Edan’s parents were killed in a kibbutz during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. She will be returned to her siblings to live with their aunt, uncle and grandparents in Israel. Noa Naftali, the girl’s cousin, told CBS News, that the family will offer the siblings “the love and support that they need after losing their parents.”

Hamas agreed to free Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians, including women and minors, held in Israeli custody. The plan is to release over the course of four days 50 hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Hamas fighters said on Sunday that they had freed a hostage who held Russian-Israeli citizenship “in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in appreciation of the Russian position in support of the Palestinian cause.”

Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from an Israeli jail early Sunday after Hamas released a second group of 13 Israeli and foreign hostages, eight children and five women, Saturday night.

Sullivan, like Biden, said there is a possibility to extend the four-day ceasefire that began Friday. “I think it is certainly a possibility, and we would like to see that happen,” he told NBC. Israel made an offer to extend the temporary cessation of hostilities for one day in exchange for every 10 additional hostages Hamas releases beyond the 50 covered in the initial agreement.

“Hamas is going to make the decision about whether they’re prepared to release another 10 hostages,” Sullivan said. “Israel has put its cards on the table. They’re prepared to extend the pause in the fighting.”

Both Biden and Sullivan the president will speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Biden has said previously that the U.S. providing aid to Israel with conditions regarding limiting the killing of civilians was a “worthwhile thought.”

Another 200 hostages captured from Israel are believed to be held by Hamas. Israel is currently holding 2,200 Palestinians in administrative detention, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group.

More from Rolling Stone

Best of Rolling Stone