President Biden on Monday said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal, adding pressure on the Israeli leader to reach a cease-fire agreement after six more hostages were found dead in Gaza over the weekend.
Biden was asked by reporters outside the White House on Monday if Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a hostage release agreement, to which he said, “No.”
When asked if mediators are prepared to present a final hostage deal this week to both Israel and Hamas, Biden said, “We are very close to that,” adding, “Hope springs eternal.”
Biden made the remarks as he arrived at the White House for a Situation Room meeting with advisers involved in cease-fire and hostage deal negotiations.
The comments come a day after Israel’s military confirmed it recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a native of Berkeley, Calif.
The Israeli military said Sunday the six hostages were killed by Hamas shortly before forces reached them in an underground tunnel in Rafah. The autopsies found the hostages were shot at close range and died either Thursday or Friday, The Associated Press reported.
The recovery of the bodies sparked massive protests in Israel on Sunday, with tens of thousands of Israelis demanding Netanyahu reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would secure the release of the remaining hostages. Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, called for a general strike to take place Monday in response.
Roughly 250 hostages were taken captive during Hamas’s surprise assault on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people. About 100 of the hostages were released late last year during a week-long cease-fire.
Netanyahu on Sunday said Hamas members will “pay the price” for the hostages’ deaths.
“We will not rest, nor will be silent. We will pursue you, we will find you and we will settle accounts with you,” he said, adding, “Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal.”
He said efforts to free the hostages are “continuing constantly” and alleged Hamas has “refused to hold genuine negotiations.”
Meanwhile, Hamas has claimed it offered to release the hostages in return for a halt in the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of some Palestinian prisoners, the AP reported.
Netanyahu has remained steadfast in waging the war until Hamas is destroyed and argues military pressure is needed to bring the hostages home.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign to eliminate Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since early October and driven hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes in Gaza, according to local and international health officials.
Biden, who spoke with Goldberg-Polin’s parents, said he was “devastated and outraged” to be informed of the Israeli American’s death.
“I know all Americans tonight will have them in their prayers, just as Jill and I will,” he wrote in a statement over the weekend. “I have worked tirelessly to bring their beloved Hersh safely to them and am heartbroken by the news of his death. It is as tragic as it is reprehensible.”
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” he added.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan also spoke to the families of Americans who are being held hostage by Hamas on Sunday. He shared the news of Goldberg-Polin’s death and discussed the U.S.’s continued push for a deal that will secure the release of the remaining hostages, according to a White House pool report.
Updated at 10:38 a.m. EDT
