The White House scrambled to backtrack Friday evening after President Joe Biden answered “yes” when asked if he was now urging Israel to postpone its invasion of Gaza for the sake of the hostages.
Two Americans were released by Hamas on Friday after they were kidnapped on October 7 and held for 13 days in Gaza. Another 200 hostages are believed to remain in Hamas captivity.
The Israeli military was given the green light to invade, and on Thursday evening an invasion appeared imminent.
But Friday’s release of two Americans, Judith Raanan, 59, and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie led to calls from some to delay the attack until more hostages could be released.
As the president left the White House on Friday evening and boarded Air Force One to spend the weekend at his beach house in Delaware, a reporter yelled at Biden, asking if he wanted Israel to delay the ground invasion.
“Yes,” he said.
Joe Biden is seen boarding Air Force One on Friday evening to travel to his beach house in Delaware for the weekend. He was asked if he would like Israel to slow down its expected invasion of Gaza to allow more time for hostage negotiations, and replied: “Yes.”
The White House immediately said that Biden had misunderstood the question and thought they wanted to know whether he wanted more hostages released
Judith Raanan is seen being escorted out of Gaza on Friday, with her daughter Natalie to her right
Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie Raanan arrived back in Israel late Friday
In a photo released by the US Embassy in Israel on Friday evening, Natalie Raanan and her mother Judith can be seen talking to Joe Biden
But Ben LaBolt, the White House communications director, responded immediately.
“The president was far away.” “He didn’t hear the whole question,” LaBolt said.
“The question sounded like, ‘Would you like to see more hostages released?'” He said nothing else.’
An IDF spokesman insisted Friday that there should be no delay, accusing Hamas of releasing the hostages as a tactic to stop the invasion – a tactic he said would not work.
Major Doron Spielman told CNN that there will be “no pause” in his country’s efforts to destroy Hamas.
Earlier, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said they do not “interfere” in Israel’s military operations.
But he said the issue of hostages was “at the forefront of the president’s mind when he met with the prime minister (Netanyahu) and he had the opportunity to meet some of the families.”
The release was negotiated by Qatari mediators with the participation of the Red Cross.
After the Raans were released, Bloomberg reported that the United States and some European governments were pressuring Israel to delay the invasion and give the Qataris more time to negotiate the release of the hostages.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said it would “continue our dialogue with both the Israelis and Hamas, and we hope that these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages of all nationalities.”
The IDF said the majority of the hostages were still alive. They said there were 20 children and between 10 and 20 people over 60 years old.
“As of today (Friday), 100 to 200 Israelis are missing,” it said in a statement.
“In comparison, 3,000 people were missing on the first day of the war. “This number has decreased dramatically since the IDF confirmed their locations.”
The IDF also stressed the complexity of finding information about missing people and said it was in constant contact with the families of the hostages.
Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the release of the Americans on Friday and said they would work for the release of the rest – but added that the fight against Hamas would continue “simultaneously” with negotiations.
“Two of our hostages are at home. “We will not relax efforts to bring back all those abducted and missing,” he said in a statement posted on social media.
“At the same time, we will continue to fight until a victory is achieved.”
Israel says it is entering Gaza to rescue 203 hostages held by Hamas terrorists
Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers and dozens of tanks and armored vehicles are now stationed at the border
A column of Israeli tanks is now on the Gaza border, ready to invade
Israel is preparing to bombard the small strip of land with rockets before sending in ground troops
Israeli soldiers listen to Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as he meets them in a field near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on Thursday
Israel’s military spokesman Daniel Hagari joined the prime minister on Friday and stressed that the war against Hamas is in full swing.
“The country’s top priority is to return all the abductees and to locate the missing through all possible means: civil, intelligence and military,” Hagari said during a news conference in Tel Aviv.
“At the same time, we are continuing the war against Hamas.” And we are preparing for the next phases of the war.’
Hamas has previously demanded that Israel release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages.
The terror group has also threatened to kill the hostages on live television if Israel invades Gaza.
An IDF spokesman, Doron Spielman, said the release of the two Americans would not slow plans for an invasion of Gaza
Spielman, the IDF spokesman, said Hamas’ move was merely a way to buy time and stressed that they had never raised humanitarian concerns.
“Hamas is now trying to present itself as a human rights organization. They have returned two of the hostages, but the true face of evil is still there. Rockets rain down on Israel.
“You know, let’s get all the hostages back and then we can start talking to them.”
He added: “This is straight from the Hamas playbook.” It’s a very typical cycle. They attack Israel, massacre it and send rockets into Israel, then run back to Gaza.
“They used to hide among their own civilians and wait for us to kill them – and then they turn to America and the international community and allege human rights abuses to get us to stop so they can regroup.”
“They want us to pause at elimination…” [but] We are at war with them. There will be no break. We will eliminate them.
“This is just another tactic for them to get us to stop.” But they are wrong. Hamas is an evil that must be stopped completely. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.’
Reporters on the ground in the Israel-Gaza border area said Friday there was a noticeable calm in the crossfire, leading them to speculate that something significant could be happening.
When the Raanans were released, Hamas immediately began firing rockets toward Israel again, CNN’s Nic Robertson reported.
Palestinian media reported heavy Israeli bombings in Gaza on Saturday night, including an attack on a house in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip that killed at least 19 people.
Palestinians walk past buildings destroyed in the Israeli bombing of al-Zahra on the outskirts of Gaza City on Friday
Smoke rises Friday after an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel
Israeli aircraft struck six houses in northern Gaza early Saturday, killing at least eight Palestinians and wounding 45, Palestinian media reported.
The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the main Palestinian Christian denomination, said Israeli forces had attacked the Church of Saint Porphyry in Gaza City, where hundreds of Christians and Muslims had sought refuge.
Israel has already ordered all civilians to evacuate the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes Gaza City. Many people have not yet left the country and say they fear losing everything and not being able to find a safe place as southern areas are also under attack.
Asked whether Israel has followed the laws of war in its response so far, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated on Friday that Israel has the right to defend itself and ensure that Iran-backed Hamas is unable to to launch attacks again.
“It is important that operations are carried out in accordance with international law, humanitarian law and the laws of war,” he said.
“There will be sufficient time to assess how these operations were conducted, but I can only say from the United States’ perspective that this remains important to us.”
The United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 140,000 homes – nearly a third of all homes in Gaza – were damaged and nearly 13,000 were completely destroyed.
Palestinian emergency services and local citizens search for victims in buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday
Palestinian emergency services and local citizens search for victims in buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday
A view of a damaged car covered in debris at the site of Israeli attacks on a house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday
Palestinians search the destroyed annex of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyry, the oldest church still in use in Gaza, which was damaged in an attack on Gaza City on Friday
Palestinians mourn the body of a relative, wrapped in a shroud with his name written on it, at Najjar Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday
International attention has focused on the delivery of aid to Gaza through the only entry point not controlled by Israel, the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.
Biden, who visited Israel on Wednesday, said he expected trucks carrying aid to come through in the next 24 to 48 hours.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres toured the checkpoint on the Egyptian side on Friday and called for a significant number of trucks to enter Gaza daily and checkpoints – which Israel insists on preventing aid from reaching Hamas – in order to quickly and to act pragmatically.
Guterres will attend the peace summit in Cairo on Saturday, which will include Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas, the King of Jordan and other world leaders.
Western leaders have so far largely offered support to Israel’s campaign against Hamas, even as concerns grow over the plight of civilians in Gaza.
However, many Muslim states have called for an immediate ceasefire, and protests calling for an end to the bombardment took place in cities across the Islamic world on Friday.
In the occupied West Bank, where violence has increased since Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager during clashes near the city of Jericho.