A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Hamas’s armed wing released a mother and daughter, both American citizens, into Israeli custody Friday. President Biden said he was “overjoyed” about the return of the two hostages, who were among the hundreds taken in a massive cross-border attack on Oct. 7. Earlier in the day, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres visited the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, standing by aid trucks he said were still blocked from reaching Palestinians who have “no food, no medicine, no fuel.” He described the trucks as a “lifeline” for nearly 2 million people in Gaza under siege and Israeli strikes, adding that “we need to make them move.”
