Biden on his last day as US president: he highlighted the agreement to release hostages in Gaza

US President Joe Biden announced this Sunday that the first three Israeli hostages released as part of the ceasefire agreement “appear to be healthy” and assured that for the first time this Sunday “the guns have fallen silent” in the Strip Gaza
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In a speech from Charleston (South Carolina), he announced on the first day of the ceasefire: “Today we hope that several hundred (aid) trucks enter the Gaza Strip, at the same time I’m talking. “After so much pain, destruction and loss of life, the guns in Gaza have gone silent.”

(Also read: Ceasefire in Gaza: Hamas frees three Israeli hostages and they are already in their country)

“The road to this agreement has not been easy in any way and has been long”acknowledged Biden, whose negotiating team, which was recently joined by the president-elect’s envoy, Donald Trump, closed on Thursday a ceasefire plan basically identical to the one put on the table by the mediation team of the US, Qatar and Egypt in May.

“We have reached this point today because of pressure that Israel has put on Hamas with the support of the United States”said Biden, who assured that abandoning that support for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have been a mistake, would not have concluded this ceasefire plan and would have “put the region at greater risk of war on a larger scale.” “.

When did the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas go into effect?

The ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas came into effect this Sunday at 11:15 local time (09:15 GMT) with the entry of humanitarian aid to the Strip and the release of Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen after 471 days in Hamas custody in Gaza.

In exchange, Israel to release 90 Palestinian prisoners (women and children) in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In this first phase of the plan, “success will require persistence and continued support from our friends in the region, believing in the diplomacy backed by deterrence”Biden assured.

The outgoing president managed to present a peace agreement in Gaza shortly before Trump takes over from him in the White House this Monday and after months of unsuccessful mediation to put an end to the humanitarian tragedy in the Palestinian enclave, which has endured 15 months of bombings and war for the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

(Also read: The ceasefire began in Gaza between Hamas and Israel: Islamist group provided list of hostages)