WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said on Monday that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and the US was close to presenting a final proposal to negotiators working on a hostage and ceasefire agreement.
Biden was speaking to reporters at the White House after Israeli forces over the weekend recovered the bodies of six hostages, including 23-year-old American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from a tunnel in Gaza. Israel’s military said they were recently killed by Palestinian Hamas militants.
That has sparked criticism of the Biden administration’s Gaza ceasefire strategy and ratcheted up pressure on Netanyahu from Israelis to bring the remaining hostages home.
Asked whether he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a hostage deal, Biden said “No.” He did not elaborate on his remarks, which drew a sharp response from senior Israeli sources.
Asked if he was planning to present a final hostage deal to both sides this week, Biden said: “We’re very close to that.” “Hope springs eternal,” he added when asked whether a deal would be successful.
Responding to Biden’s comments, senior Israeli sources said it was “remarkable” that Biden was pressuring Netanyahu over a hostage deal rather than Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Biden’s criticism of Netanyahu was “American recognition that Netanyahu was responsible for undermining efforts to reach a deal.”
Israeli forces killed at least 48 Palestinians in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip as they battled Hamas-led militants, Palestinian officials said on Monday, while medics conducted a second day of polio vaccinations for children in the enclave.
Britain will immediately suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licences with Israel because there is a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of humanitarian law, foreign minister David Lammy said. “…there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”