“We think there’s about eight hostages that are Americans,” John Kirby told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos this week. Two weeks earlier, Biden claimed that his brokering of the hostages for prisoners deal with Israel showed focus on the safety of Americans. Biden also claimed that the four-day ‘pause’ showed his determination to “bring Americans home.”

In eight days of exchanges, however, only one American got released.

Despite brokering the deal, it never included any guarantees that the nine Americans would be released unharmed, nor did it require Hamas to allow Red Cross access to Americans they kidnapped. At the same time, Biden and his team neglected to arrange for the exit of over a thousand Americans from Gaza.

Kirby now wants Israel to enter another pause to get the rest of the Americans out. We should be asking why Biden didn’t arrange for that in the first set of exchanges? … and why Biden and his team have made a habit of abandoning Americans to terrorist groups—first in Afghanistan and now in Gaza.