Did Biden or Trump secure release of more hostages from Gaza? Here's the tally

[Thiệu Ngô]

Both presidents brokered deals that resulted in Hamas releasing people it took captive during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

By Laerke Christensen

Claim: Former U.S. President Joe Biden secured the release of roughly 140 hostages during the Israel-Hamas war, a total more than President Donald Trump.

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Context

The Biden administration helped broker two ceasefire and hostage-exchange deals between Israel and Hamas — one in November 2023 and one in January 2025. Hamas released 105 hostages in the November 2023 deal and 33 in the January 2025 deal, a total of 138. The incoming Trump administration also participated in the January 2025 deal. As of this writing, Trump's October 2025 ceasefire plan had resulted in Hamas releasing 33 hostages.

In October 2025, as Hamas released some hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan, a claim (archived) circulated online that former President Joe Biden had secured the release of roughly 140 hostages during his presidency, outnumbering Trump.

One popular claim read:

I don't know who needs to hear this, but it was President @JOEBiden who secured the release of 140 hostages in Gaza. Trump? Just 28. That means Biden was responsible for 83% of all the hostages freed — yet you'd never know it from the way the media talks.

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Hamas took 251 hostages during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people. By Oct. 21, 2025, more than 68,000 Palestinians (archived) and 470 Israeli soldiers had died in the resulting Israel-Hamas War, according to the Israeli government and the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.

At this time of this writing, hostage- and prisoner-exchange deals — as well as efforts by the Israeli army — resulted in the release of 238 hostages from Gaza. Hamas said (archived) on Telegram that that number reflected all surviving hostages from the October 2023 attack, and that the remaining bodies would require "considerable effort and special equipment" to locate and recover.

According to Israeli authorities and reputable news outlets such as Reuters, two hostage-exchange deals took place during Biden's presidency. The first, in November 2023, resulted in the release of 105 hostages. A second deal, which Biden first proposed in May 2024 and took effect on the final day of his presidency in January 2025, resulted in the release of a further 33 hostages — including eight who were deceased — in January and February of that year.

In sum, Hamas released a total of 138 hostages as a result of deals that Biden's administration helped broker.

In October 2025, a third ceasefire deal brokered by Trump resulted in the release of 33 hostages (20 living and the bodies of 13 others). Under the deal's terms, Hamas would also release the remains of the final 13 deceased hostages.

Given the above, it was true that deals brokered by the U.S. during Biden's presidency resulted in 138 hostage releases (roughly, but not exactly, 140, as some social media posts claimed). It was also true that this was more than the outcome of U.S.-brokered deals during Trump's presidency, even including hostages released after Trump's Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration as part of Biden's second deal.

The deals

The Biden-era November 2023 ceasefire that allowed for the release of 105 hostages was the first such deal of the Israel-Hamas war. According to The Associated Press at the time, the U.S., along with Egypt and Qatar, helped mediate the deal. The plan initially secured the release of 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons across four days of a ceasefire but resulted in more than twice that number of hostage releases. Fighting between Hamas and Israel resumed Dec. 1, 2023.

On May 31, 2024, Biden announced that his administration had negotiated a "comprehensive new proposal" with the Israeli government for a "roadmap" to peace in Gaza. That three-point plan started with a six-week ceasefire during which hostage and prisoner exchanges could take place. No parties agreed on those conditions at the time.

Months later, on Jan. 15, 2025, Biden announced that Hamas and Israel had agreed to a deal that followed the "precise contours" of the May proposal. That same day (five days before Trump took the presidential oath of office), Trump posted on Truth Social that the ceasefire agreement "could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November," referring to the 2024 U.S. presidential election he won. He added, "We have achieved so much without even being in the White House."

The deal took effect Jan. 19, 2025, the last day of Biden's presidency. The first of the hostage and prisoner exchanges took place that day with the release of three Israeli women from Hamas captivity. Hamas released 30 more Israeli hostages between Jan. 19 and Feb. 26, 2025, as part of the deal. In the same period, the group also released five foreign hostages who were not part of the deal, according to Reuters.

In March 2025, Israel launched a wave of strikes on the Gaza Strip, decisively ending Biden's deal. Hamas did not release another hostage until May, when it released 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander, according to international and Israeli media.

By September 2025, 46 hostages remained in the Gaza Strip. On Sept. 29, 2025, Trump released his 20-point plan (archived) for Gaza, the first phase of which Hamas and Israel signed around a week later.

A new ceasefire started Oct. 10. Hamas released 20 hostages on Oct. 13 and the bodies of 13 hostages in the following days. Trump's deal originally stipulated that all hostages, "alive and deceased," should be returned within 72 hours of Israel accepting the deal. Hamas said on Oct. 15, five days after the start of the ceasefire, that it could not recover the remaining bodies without "considerable effort and special equipment."

The group released at least five more dead hostages in the following days.

In sum …

Hamas took 251 hostages during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. As of this writing, the group had released 171 of these, alive and dead, in deals proposed or brokered by Biden and Trump.

Hamas released 105 hostages in November 2023 under a deal brokered by Biden, Egypt and Qatar. It agreed to release another 33 under a deal that Biden first proposed in May 2024. Those releases largely took place during Trump's presidency in January and February 2025, and Trump claimed credit for the success of that deal.

Trump brokered a separate deal in October 2025 that resulted in the release of 20 live and 13 dead hostages, as of this writing.

In total, Biden's deals resulted in the release of 138 hostages. If attributing the 33 hostages released in January and February 2025 to both Biden and Trump, Trump secured the release of 66 hostages (33 if only counting the October 2025 deal).

Another 69 hostages in Gaza were released, or freed, as part of efforts unrelated to U.S.-brokered deals.