Biden, Macron welcome rescue of four Gaza hostages, repeat call for cease-fire

PARIS – President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the news Saturday that Israeli’s military and security forces have rescued four hostages held in Gaza and returned them to their families.

“We won’t stop working until all of the hostages come home and a cease-fire is reached. It’s essential,” Biden said at a joint appearance with the French leader.

Macron also lauded the hostage rescue and called for a permanent political solution to the war in Gaza, which he said is the only way to achieve a lasting peace and security.

In addition, Macron reiterated France’s support for the Biden administration’s comprehensive cease-fire proposal announced last week. The three-phase deal calls for Israel’s military to withdraw from populated civilian areas of Gaza and for the release of hostages held by Hamas and for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. The final phase would be the reconstruction of Gaza.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement the hostage release and ceasefire deal would secure the release of all the remaining hostages together and would offer “security assurances for Israel and relief for the innocent civilians in Gaza.”

Biden and Macron spoke on the fourth day of the American president’s five-day trip to France, where he attended ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The two leaders met on Saturday at the French president’s residence and discussed various issues, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Israel's military and security services rescued four hostages alive from two separate locations in the central Gaza area of al-Nuseirat on Saturday in what was described as a complex daytime operation.

The four hostages, three males and one female, were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year. They were identified by Israel's Defense Forces as Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

The military said they appeared to be in good health and were being taken to a hospital for further health checks.

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X at @mcollinsNEWS.Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard, Ken Tran and Jeanine Santucci.