On Monday, before the meeting at the White House, Biden spoke to reporters about the situation in the Gaza Strip. Asked if Netanyahu was doing enough to reach an agreement, he replied briefly: “No.”
He added that he is “very close” to presenting a new proposal for a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages and that he is closely following the events in Israelwhere it took place general strike of trade unionists demanding that the Prime Minister conclude such an agreement and that the government resign.
The strike took place after the bodies of six more people killed by terrorists were brought to Israel Hamasat the hostages, including a US citizen Hersha Goldberg-Paulin. The parents of a slain hostage recently spoke at the Democratic convention in Chicago, demanding the release of prisoners and an end to the war.
Biden was asked what message he had for the remaining American hostages. “I talked to an American hostage, I talked to his mom and dad, and we are not giving up,” he said, without specifying who he was referring to. “We will push as hard as we can,” he added.
Hostages Released from Hamas. Biden: Hope Dies Last
On Monday, Biden and his vice president Kamala Harris met with a team of American negotiators leading talks on a potential agreement. Asked about the chances of reaching an agreement after the failure of several previous initiatives, Biden said that “hope dies last.”
During a meeting with negotiators, Biden “expressed his outrage and despair over the murder and stressed the importance of holding Hamas leaders accountable,” the White House said.
He also received an update on the status of the latest U.S. proposal and discussed “next steps in ongoing efforts to free hostagesincluding further consultations with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt“.
Tel Aviv's sharp reaction to Biden's words
On Biden's Monday words a “senior representative” of the Israeli Prime Minister's office reacted sharply quoted by the Times of Israel.
“It is strange that President Biden is pushing Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to the US proposal on May 31 and to the bridge proposal on August 16, and not Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who continues to steadfastly refuse to agree to any agreement,” the official said, adding that Biden's words are especially dangerous given the context of the recent murder of hostages by Hamas.
As the Israeli daily notes, despite Netanyahu's agreement to the American ceasefire proposals, he later added additional demands that proved to be the main obstacle to concluding the agreement. This concerns the condition of maintaining the presence of Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip in the so-called “Philadelphia corridor”on the border between Gaza and Egypt.
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