Israeli girl's extraordinary survival story of how she turned four as a hostage after Hamas murdered her parents and is now playing on the White House swings and meeting Biden

Abigail Edan was three when she saw her parents murdered in front of her. She turned four while being held captive by the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza. And a few months before her fifth birthday, she played with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. 

It's been an incredible journey for the little girl, who captured hearts around the world.

Abigail survived hunger and living in filthy, bug-infested conditions during the 50 days she was held in Gaza, one of the youngest captives of the Israeli-Hamas war. 

She was reunited with her brother and sister. Now the children, who are living with extended family in Israel, are recovering from their trauma and re-establishing their family bonds. 

Abigail, who has dual American-Israeli citizenship, was the youngest hostage released by Hamas when she was freed in November.

She was taken to Atzerim Airforce Base, where she was reunited with her aunt Liron and grandmother Shlomit. She later met with more relatives at the Schneider Hospital near Tel Aviv where doctors said she was ‘doing remarkably well.'

Her release was celebrated around the world. 

'Thank God she’s home. I wish I were there to hold her,' Biden said at the time. 

On Wednesday, Biden did get to give her a hug when Abigail and her family spent more than hour with him at the White House.

Like any normal little girl, she played with the president's desk - crawling through the Resolute Desk's famous open door. She also made it out to the South Lawn, where she enjoyed the massive swing set that President Barack Obama had installed for his small daughters.

'She played in the Oval Office. She crawled through the door in the resolute desk that has that famous picture of John F. Kennedy's little boy,' a senior administration official said of the meeting. 'She went outside and was on the swing set and playing on the playground we have on the South Lawn.' 

Biden posted a photo of him holding Abigail in the Oval Office.

'Her family sent me a note saying she was riding home and she said, “You know, I love Joe Biden,"' he told reporters of the meeting.

The president also posted a second photo with himself and Abigail with her siblings and cousins standing in the Oval Office before the Resolute Desk. 

He wrote: 'Last year, we secured the release of Abigail, a 4-year-old who was being held by Hamas. She’s remarkable and recovering from unspeakable trauma. Our time together yesterday was a reminder of the work we have in front of us to secure the release of all remaining hostages.'

Abigail's family were some of the first victims of Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7th. 

On that day Hamas militants stormed her kibbutz, Kfar Azza, about two miles from the Gazan border, and killed her parents, 43-year-old Roy Edan and 40-year-old Smadar Edan. 

Roy Edan, a photographer for the Israeli news outlet Ynet, had been taking some of the earliest photographs of the assault.

He was holding Abigail when he was shot and killed.

Abigail's siblings, brother Michael, 10, and sister Amalya, 6, locked themselves inside a closet and hid for 14 hours. They survived and were reunited with family soon after the attack.

But Abigail had to crawl from under her father's lifeless body, covered in his blood, to her neighbor's home. 

The Brodutch family  took her in as the rampage raged. All five - Abigail, Hagar Brodutch and her three children - then disappeared.

Abigail's extended family in Israel feared the worst - that she had been killed along with her parents.

But later her name appeared on a list of hostages along side those of the Brodutch family. 

During her time in captivity, Abigail was kept in filthy conditions and not given enough food.

Her family said after her release she was 'hungry.'

Otherwise the little girl was spending time playing with her siblings and enjoying meals with her family. 

Liz Hirsh Naftali, cousin and great-aunt of Abigail, told NPR last year that Abigail 'had run to a neighbor's house after she crawled out from under her father's body. And these neighbors took her in.'

She added that the four-year-old 'was hungry' upon her release. 

'She has been eating and drinking and so overjoyed to be with her family and her siblings,' Naftali said.

She noted Abigail had not spoken much about what had happened in those 50 days in Gaza. 

She told Katie Couric: 'We’re learning little by little that, basically, it was filthy. They were moved a couple of times. It’s not clear exactly where they were moved to and how they were moved, but they weren’t in one place. It was insect infested. There was not proper food for any child to eat for 50 days. We’re slowly learning, but those are the things that have been shared with us.'

The Brodutch family, ranging in age from 4 to 84, was also released with Abigail. 

Much of the early days of the war were marked with concern about Abigail. There was a countdown to see if she would be released by November 24th, her fourth birthday.

She was released a few days afterward.