As Hamas finally released the first groups of its many hostages over the weekend, a news report says Joe Biden offered an apology — essentially to Hamas.

“I’m sorry. I’m disappointed in myself,” the president privately told a group of what The Washington Post called “five prominent Muslim Americans.” He added, “I will do better.”

Why was Biden apologizing? Because he correctly expressed doubt about Hamas’s casualty statistics last month. Speaking at an October press conference about the Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas, Biden said, “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed.” His comment came not long after Hamas falsely reported — and the American Leftmedia parroted — that Israel had killed 500 in a missile strike on a hospital.

As our Douglas Andrews aptly put it: “It wasn’t an airstrike, it didn’t hit a hospital, it didn’t kill hundreds, and Israel didn’t do it. But other than that, the reporting was accurate.”

Never mind the truth, though. The same Washington Post “fact-checked” Biden because Hamas actually “has a good track record on reporting death tolls.” (The Gaza Health Ministry now says more than 14,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military response. No one is saying how many of them were Hamas jihadists, and few media outlets bother to highlight how Hamas blurs the lines to increase civilian deaths — primarily for propaganda purposes.)

Beyond the media “fact-check,” Biden also no doubt got an earful from his astoundingly sizable Hamas-supporting Democrat base — including the several hundred government staffers who object to the administration’s stance supporting Israel.

Hence Biden’s apology now.

As for the hostages, just one American — a four-year-old girl with dual Israeli citizenship who witnessed both parents being murdered by Hamas on October 7 — was among the handful of people released by Hamas terrorists. We can’t imagine how traumatic it has been for these folks, and especially the children, during their seven weeks in captivity, though the Associated Press reported some distressing details. One woman hostage emerged to learn her husband had been killed seven weeks ago.

For all of the wailing among Hamas jihadists and their supporters about civilian casualties, they had no compunction about killing more than 1,200 in a surprise attack and then taking 240 hostages for leverage.

In exchange for a fraction of those hostages, Israel agreed to a temporary cease-fire and to release roughly three times as many Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were convicted of crimes. If Hamas releases 10 more hostages each day, Israel will continue to pause operations, though that would allow Hamas to regroup.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised, “We will return with full force to achieve our goals: The elimination of Hamas, ensuring that Gaza does not return to what it was; and of course the release of all our hostages.”

Israel has a very difficult needle to thread. Hamas builds fighting bases in hospitals, schools, and mosques, clearly hoping for civilian casualties to play on Western sympathies. Hamas exists to wipe Israel off the map, and indiscriminately kills Jews to reach that goal — largely with the support of the Palestinian people.

Israelis want to live in peace, but to do that, Hamas must be eliminated.

As for the 10 Americans still being held by Hamas, Biden’s weakness and moral equivocation certainly isn’t helping them. His feckless leadership has resulted in multiple crises around the world. To say we’re disappointed would be the understatement of the year.