Joe Biden has spoken with the two American citizens Hamas have released.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, from the US Embassy Jerusalem revealed the mother and daughter, Judith and Natalie Raanan, had conducted a phone call with the president.
Along with a picture of the pair on the phone to Mr Biden, the embassy added: “We will continue to do everything we can to unite all hostages with their loved ones.”
‘I stopped counting after the ninth person was shot in front of us’
By Stuart Ramsey, Chief correspondent, Sky News
I stopped counting after the ninth person was shot in front of us on another day of protests in the West Bank.
It was clearly a tactic by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to send a message – to the usual suspects who regularly hurl rocks at their vehicles and security posts – that today they weren’t going to mess around.
Even as we pulled up and put our protective equipment on, I could hear the first rounds being fired.
At that stage the road was pretty empty, there were just a few youngsters getting ready for the almost daily theatre of rock throwing followed by live fire shooting.
The most remarkable thing to me – and I’ve reported on riots and violent protests all over the world for decades – is that everyone getting ready for this exchange of rocks and bullets knows exactly what is going to happen.
‘We’ll continue to fight until victory’, says Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “fight until victory” in Gaza, signalling no pause in Israel’s bombardment and expected invasion of the enclave after Hamas released two US hostages.
A few hours ago, the Islamist group released American mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan who were kidnapped in its attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
They were the first hostages confirmed by both sides in the conflict to be freed since Hamas gunmen burst into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and taking around 200 hostages.
“Two of our abductees are at home. We are not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement released late on Friday night.
“At the same time, we’ll continue to fight until victory,” he added.