美国总统乔·拜登周四表示，他正在祈祷3岁的阿比盖尔·莫尔·伊丹将在周五被哈马斯释放的人质中，但没有提供任何其他有关延迟的更新。
“我不准备给你一个更新，直到它完成，”拜登说，他举起双手，交叉手指。
当被问及美国女孩可能在人质中时，拜登说，“让我祈祷好运。”
他说，他可能会在周五谈论人质，他在马萨诸塞州告诉记者，他正在楠塔基特与家人共度感恩节。
早些时候，白宫表示，美国仍然“希望”哈马斯在加沙释放人质将从星期五早上开始，双方正在制定“最后的后勤细节”
“这笔交易已经达成，现在依然如此。双方正在制定最后的后勤细节，特别是执行第一天的细节。我们认为，在人质开始回家的时候，不应该有任何侥幸心理。我们的首要目标是确保他们安全回家。国家安全委员会发言人阿德里安娜·沃森(Adrienne Watson)周三晚些时候在发布被推迟后的一份声明中说:“这是正确的，我们希望周五早上开始实施。”。
官员们说，拜登已经打电话给以色列、埃及和卡塔尔的领导人，与他们保持密切联系。以确保交易进行到底。
2023年11月23日感恩节，在马萨诸塞州楠塔基特，乔·拜登总统在访问楠塔基特消防局后，回答关于释放哈马斯人质的问题时交叉手指。
Brendan Smialowski/法新社
高级政府官员表示，总统在谈判中一直非常亲力亲为，他们说这是一个“极其痛苦的过程”。
官员们在背景中描述了拜登几周来如何与地区领导人通电话，亲自敦促卡塔尔埃米尔谢赫·塔米姆·本·哈马德·阿勒萨尼向哈马斯施压，要求其接受协议，并敦促以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡也这样做。
在危机的早期，官员们描述了他们所说的拜登高级助手的“秘密小组”，他们在幕后与以色列和卡塔尔合作，一直充当中间人。
官员们称，上个月释放两名美国人是对这个秘密组织能否兑现承诺的考验。从那里，他们开始了一项更广泛的交易。他们说，谈判几次陷入僵局，哈马斯甚至一度中断了谈判。
美国官员说，拜登的外交压力对达成这项协议至关重要。
国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文表示，达成协议的关键是让双方“变得具体”
“上周晚些时候发生了重大变化，拜登总统首先与内塔尼亚胡总理进行了会谈，然后与卡塔尔埃米尔进行了会谈，讨论用多少人质、多少天来交换多少巴勒斯坦囚犯。他周三在美国广播公司(ABC)的《早安美国》(Good Morning America)节目中说，正是细化这些细节的工作最终产生了突破，我们现在看到的突破是宣布暂停敌对行动，并首次释放人质囚犯
与此同时，他指出了该协议的脆弱性。“直到我们真正看到他们出来，在他们所爱的人的怀里，安全回家，我们才能完全有信心，”他说。“所以，我们将等待，就像这些家庭屏息等待一样，直到他们出来，直到每一个美国人都出来。”
而当前交易预计包括释放三名美国人——两名妇女和一名父母被哈马斯杀害的3岁女孩——仍有几名美国人下落不明，许多人质没有包括在协议中。
虽然最初的协议指定停火四天，以释放约50名人质，包括妇女和儿童，交换关押在以色列监狱的约150名巴勒斯坦妇女和青少年，但美国官员表示，他们和拜登将继续推动释放所有人质，协议要求停火可能会延长。(内塔尼亚胡曾表示，在任何人质获释后，以色列对哈马斯的战争都将继续。)
“如果哈马斯希望这种停顿继续下去，它必须制造更多的人质。甚至在两三周前，这还不是交易的条款。这是因为哈马斯面临压力。我们以一种激励释放所有人质的方式来组织这笔交易。所以先付50美元。我们希望随着更多的人质回家，我们可以继续这样做，”白宫中东和北非协调员布雷特·麦古克周三告诉MSNBC。
Biden says 'fingers crossed' for hostage release as officials describe his role, backstory
President Joe Biden said Thursday he's keeping his fingers crossed that 3-year-old Abigail Mor Edan will be among the hostages released by Hamas Friday, but did not offer any other updates on the delay.
"I'm not prepared to give you an update until it's done," Biden said as he lifted his hands and crossed his fingers.
When asked about the American girl possibly being among those hostages, Biden said, "keeping my fingers crossed."
He said he might talk about the hostages Friday, he told reporters in Massachusetts where he's spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his family in Nantucket.
Earlier, the White House said the U.S. remains "hopeful" that the release of hostages by Hamas in Gaza willbegin on Friday morning,as the parties work out "final logistical details."
"The deal was agreed and remains agreed. The parties are working out final logistical details particularly for the first day of implementation. It is our view that nothing should be left to chance as the hostages begin coming home. Our primary objective is to ensure that they are brought home safely. That is on track and we are hopeful that implementation will begin on Friday morning," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement late Wednesday after the release was delayed.
Biden has called the leaders of Israel, Egypt and Qatar, staying in close contact with them, officials said,to ensure the deal gets carried through to the end.
Senior administration officials said the president has been very hands-on in the negotiation that they said has been as an "extremely excruciating process."
Officials, on background, described how, for weeks, Biden has been working the phones with regional leaders -- personally urging Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar to press Hamas to accept the deal and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do the same.
In the early days of the crisis, officials described what they called a "secret cell" of top Biden aides who worked behind the scenes with Israel and Qatar -- which has been acting as an intermediary.
Officials described the release of two Americans last month as a test of whether this secret cell could deliver. From there, they worked on a broader deal. Negotiations stalled several times, they said, and, at one point, Hamas even broke off talks.
U.S. officials say it is Biden's diplomatic pressure that's been critical to getting this deal together.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the key to getting the deal done was getting both sides to "get specific."
"The big move happened late last week when President Biden spoke first with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and then with the emir of Qatar, to say how many hostages, for how many days, in return for how many Palestinian prisoners. And it was really the work to refine those details that finally produced the breakthrough that we now see resulting in the announcement of a pause in hostilities, and the first return of prisoners of hostages," he said Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America."
At the same time, he noted the fragility of the deal. "Until we actually see them come out, be in the arms of their loved ones, get home safely, we cannot be fully confident," he said. "So, we are going to wait, as the families are waiting, with bated breath, until they come out and then until every last American comes out."
While thecurrent dealis expected to include the release of three Americans -- two women and a the 3-year-old girl whose parents were killed by Hamas -- there are still several Americans unaccounted for, and many hostages not included in the deal.
While the initial agreement designates a four-day pause in the fighting for the release of about 50 hostages -- women and children in exchange for about 150 Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli jails, U.S. officials said they and Biden will keep on pushing for the release of all hostages beyond that -- with the agreement calling for the truce to possibly be extended. (Netanyahu has said the Israel's war on Hamas will continue after any hostage releases.)
"If Hamas wants that pause to continue, it has to produce additional hostages. That was not the terms of the deal even two to three weeks ago. And that's because Hamas is under pressure. We structured this deal in a way that incentivizes the release of all hostages. So the 50 up front. We are hopeful we can have this continue as more hostages come home," Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, told MSNBC Wednesday.
