Biden expresses uncertainty about when US hostages will be released by Hamas

President Joe Biden has been the subject of much criticism in recent days, as American hostages were not immediately among those released by Hamas in a deal reached with Israel, with the commander in chief confessing that he simply did not know when the situation would be rectified, as Fox News reported.

After an initial release of hostages on Friday, Biden said, speaking from his holiday break in Nantucket, Massachusetts, “We don't know when that will occur, but we're going to expect it to occur.”

Uncertainty abounds

During his remarks on the subject of imminent hostage releases, Biden explained, “We don't know what the list of all the hostages are and when they will be released, but we know the numbers that are going to be released, so, it's my hope and expectation it will be soon.”

The president's uncertainty extended to the current conditions of the Americans still being held by Hamas, or whether they are even still alive.

Biden's remarks then veered into a hypothesis as to what he believes might have been a primary driver of Hamas' actions on Oct. 7.

“I cannot prove what I'm about to say. But I believe one of the reasons why Hamas struck when they did was they knew that I was working very closely with the Saudis and others in the region to bring peace to the region by having recognition of Israel and Israel's right to exist,” the president said.

Biden draws bipartisan critiques

With 24 hostages having been released by Hamas on Friday and another 17 on Sunday, and not a single American among them, Biden received a barrage of criticism from both sides of the aisle.

Former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Saturday to say, “Has anybody noticed that Hamas has returned people from other Countries but, so far, has not returned one American Hostage? There is only one reason for that, NO RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY OR OUR LEADERSHIP.”

“This is a very sad and dark period of America!” Trump added.

Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips (MN), who is also challenging Biden for their party's presidential nomination, also expressed frustration that administration efforts had not yielded the release of American hostages, as the New York Post noted.

“And by now, I would have expected American special forces to perhaps play a hand in extracting them. I think it's absurd, shocking and dismaying, that six weeks later, we still have American hostages held by a terror organization in Gaza,” Phillips lamented.

A glimmer of good news emerged on Sunday, however, with the release of four-year-old American hostage Abigail Edan, who was present on Oct. 7 when her parents were murdered by Hamas terrorists and had been held in captivity ever since.