US President Joe Biden speaks during a joint press conference with the German chancellor in Berlin, on October 18, 2024. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP) (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)

(JTA) — In a brief address on his last full day as president, Joe Biden hailed the ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza and predicted Hamas would not regain power.

He also defended his support for Israel in the 15 months since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Biden spoke as Israeli hostages Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen left Hamas captivity and were on their way to Israel. Their release was the first stage of a ceasefire deal that came into effect on Sunday after months of negotiation and more than a year of fighting. In the initial phase of the deal, which will last six weeks, Hamas is due to release 3o more Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.

“The deal that I first put forward last May for the Middle East has finally come to fruition,” he said. “Today we’re seeing hostages being released. Three Israeli women held against their will in the dark tunnels for 470 days.”

He added, “After so much pain, destruction and loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent.”

On Sunday, footage of the hostages leaving Gaza was coupled with images of Hamas trucks rolling back into Gaza’s cities and its fighters marching on the streets. The latter stages of the ceasefire deal include vague plans for reconstructing Gaza, but who will govern the territory remains unclear. Israel has vowed not to let Hamas regain power.

Biden said Sunday that the ceasefire will end “without Hamas in power, or able to threaten Israel.” As he was leaving the press conference, a reported asked if he was concerned about Hamas regrouping. He said “No.”

Biden defended his approach to the war, which mixed support for Israel with efforts to reach a ceasefire. His policy drew criticism from left-wing activists, who cited the mounting death toll in Gaza, as well as from the right, which said he did not support Israel enough. He said his policy averted a broader conflagration in the Middle East.

He called the ceasefire talks “one of the toughest negotiations” he’s ever conducted.

“We’ve reached this point today because of the pressure Israel built on Hamas backed by the United States. Some said my policy of firm support for Israel with relentlessly pursuing diplomacy risked drawing America into a wider war in the region,” he said. “I concluded abandoning the course I was on would not have led us to the ceasefire we’re seeing today. Instead it would have risked the wider war in the region that so many feared.”

Biden praised the transformations underway in the region as a result of Israel’s multi-front war. He listed Israel’s battering of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria and Israel’s assassination of Hamas’ leadership. He said the changes opened the door to Israeli integration in the region, including an accord between Israel and Saudi Arabia and a better future for Palestinians.

He also cited the incoming Trump administration’s involvement in the ceasefire talks, which many credited with getting the deal across the finish line.

“Now it falls to the next administration to help implement this deal,” he said. “I was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days. It was both necessary, effective and unprecedented. Success is going to require persistence, and continuing support for our friends in the region, and the belief in diplomacy backed by deterrence.”

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