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President Joe Biden told reporters that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal in the Israel-Hamas war.
Biden made the remark to a Reuters reporter at the White House on Monday morning. This comes as the Biden administration irons out a “take it or leave it” deal alongside Egypt and Qatar to present to the Israeli government and Hamas, The Washington Post reports. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also met in the White House situation room on Monday morning to receive an update on the deal and discuss next steps with their co-mediators.
“You can’t keep negotiating this,” an anonymous senior Biden administration official told the Post. “This process has to be called at some point.”
If both sides fail to accept the deal, the official told the outlet, it could mark the end of US-led negotiations in the Israel-Hamas war.
Officials from the US, Egypt and Qatar were already working on the deal before Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in Gaza over the weekend. The Israel Defense Forces said the hostages were killed “shortly before” they were set to be rescued.
The unnamed senior administration official told the Post that US officials also believe the hostages were killed shortly before the rescue operation was set to take place.
“US officials are going to be burning up the phones over the next 48 hours to see if a deal can still be reached,” another unnamed senior official told the Post.
Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among the six hostages found dead. After his parents met with world leaders to campaign for the release of hostages over the last 11 months, Goldberg-Polin became one of the best-known hostages in Gaza.
“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” his family said in a statement. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israelis have held protests demanding Netanyahu agree to a ceasefire deal that will help bring the hostages home. Histadrut, a major Israeli labor union, also called for a nationwide general strike on Monday to pressure the prime minister.
“The delay in signing the deal has led to their deaths and those of many other hostages,” the Hostage Family Forum said in a statement about the six hostages.
Israeli forces have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians — most of them civilians — according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and displaced most of the 2.3 million people in Gaza. The military action began after October 7, when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking some 250 people hostage.
In a statement the White House said: “Today, President Biden and Vice President Harris met in the White House Situation Room with the U.S. hostage deal negotiation team following the murder of American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas. President Biden expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder, and reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable.
“During the meeting, President Biden and Vice President Harris received an update from the U.S. negotiation team on the status of the bridging proposal outlined by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt. They discussed next steps in the ongoing effort to secure the release of hostages, including continuing consultations with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt.
