Biden hosts former American Israeli hostage at White House, promises to work for 'release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas'

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U.S. President Joe Biden, who has been a strong advocate for securing the release of the Israeli hostages held by the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza, hosted a former Israeli hostage at the White House on Monday.

Dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Liat Atzili, 49, is a professional educator at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. She was abducted from her home on Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 and spent 54 difficult days in captivity until she was eventually released in a hostage deal in November 2023.

Atzili’s husband Aviv, also 49, was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. The couple’s three children survived.

Biden praised Atzili and vowed to continue working for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

"Liat Beinin Atzili is a survivor. It was my honor to welcome her to the White House this evening, hear firsthand about her resilience despite enduring the unthinkable, and promise her that my work isn't done until we secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas," Biden wrote on 𝕏.

Israel's KAN news outlet reported that Atzili attended the special White House event alongside family members and the U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who has been a key player in implementing U.S. Middle East policies.

Last November, Biden spoke with Atzili’s parents at the time of her release from captivity in Gaza.

“Liat Beinin is safe in Egypt. She's crossed the border. I talked to her mother and father; they're very appreciative,” Biden said. “She'll soon be home with her three children,” the president added.

In February, Atzili wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times that her "home of 30 years was burned beyond recognition, and the home of my heart – my husband, Aviv – was among the 1,200 killed by Hamas in Israel on that terrible October day." In addition, she discovered that "terrorists killed her dog, Revi."

Like other residents in Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip border, the Atzili family was familiar with the threat posed by Hamas terrorists in Gaza years before Oct. 7.

In a 2008 interview with The Jerusalem Post, the paper noted that "Aviv Atzili leaves the windows open all the time in his small home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the Gaza border so glass shards won't fly through the rooms should a rocket or mortar fall nearby."

Approximately 250 Israelis and foreign nationals were kidnapped during the invasion and brutal massacre of southern Israeli border communities last October. More than 100 of the hostages were released in late November as part of a hostage deal. Israeli forces have so far succeeded in rescuing seven Israeli hostages in three separate operations. In early June, Israeli special forces rescued Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrei Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40) in a daring daytime operation in the Hamas-controlled Nuseirat neighborhood in central Gaza.

Around 120 hostages are believed to still be in captivity in Gaza but Israel believes that at least 25% are no longer alive.

The Israeli public has been divided over the past nine months on whether the country should first focus on eliminating Hamas or prioritizing a deal for the release of the remaining hostages. A recent poll indicated that two out of three Israelis currently believe Israel should prioritize the release of the hostages.