President Joe Biden said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and the U.S. 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 had been 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.
Netanyahu appeared to push back when asked about Biden’s comments, saying pressure should be applied to Hamas, not Israel, particularly after the hostages’ deaths.
“And now after this we’re asked to show seriousness? We’re asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas? It says, kill more hostages,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said he did not believe Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace would ask Israel to make more concessions and that instead it was Hamas that needed to do so.
Asked if he was planning to present a final hostage deal to both sides this week, Biden told reporters: “We’re very close to that.”
“Hope springs eternal,” he added when asked whether a deal would be successful.
Biden said later in the evening that he plans to talk to Netanyahu “eventually” but did not specify a clear timeline when asked. Biden and Netanyahu have spoken several times amid Israel’s war in Gaza.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also met with the U.S. hostage negotiation team, during which the president expressed “devastation and outrage” at the hostages’ murders, and they discussed the next steps in efforts to free the remaining captives, the White House said.
Biden’s fresh criticism of Netanyahu comes as he and Harris, who has replaced the president at the top of the Democratic ticket for the Nov. 5 election, face increased calls for decisive action to end Israel’s nearly 11-month-old war in Gaza.
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