Home » Biden says Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure Israel-Hamas hostage deal

Biden says Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure Israel-Hamas hostage deal

by Marko Florentino
0 comment



President Biden said Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal after six captives were found dead in a Hamas terror tunnel in Gaza.

Biden, returning to the White House after a two-week vacation in California and Delaware, was asked by a reporter whether Netanyahu had done enough and replied, “No.”

The president also said “we’re very close” to proposing another hostage deal this week and that “hope springs eternal” on whether it will be successful.

President Biden returns to the White House from his Delaware beach pad Monday to face questions about the Mideast war. Getty Images
Biden tells reporters that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure the release of the Hamas hostages, who include several US-Israeli citizens. AP

Israelis staged protests Monday across the Jewish state — a close US ally — over their government’s inability to secure a hostage deal with Hamas, nearly 11 months since the terror group launched its deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and took dozens hostage.

The outcry was triggered by six hostages — including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin — being found dead Saturday in a Hamas tunnel. All were shot at close range and likely killed two to three days before their bodies were found, Israel said.

Goldberg-Polin, 23, was dragged into Gaza after attending a music festival in Israel on Oct. 7 and getting his left hand blown off during the attack. His family had been petitioning for his release in front of Biden, the United Nations and Pope Francis.

The families of US-Israeli hostages being held in Gaza previously spoke to Congress about the US putting more pressure on Netanyahu to get their loved ones home, arguing that should be the Israeli PM’s priority.

Netanyahu has been under fire for allegedly putting his hawkish stances ahead of a peace deal. ZUMAPRESS.com
Biden (right) shows a piece of paper to his wife, first lady Jill Biden, while sitting at the beach in Cape Henlopen State Park, in Lewes, Del., last week. AFP via Getty Images
Protesters gather in Tel Aviv on Monday to march against what they see as their government’s inaction when it comes to the hostages. ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Biden said he spoke to Goldberg-Polin’s family Sunday.

“I am devastated and outraged,” Biden wrote in a statement after the meeting.

“I have gotten to know his parents, Jon and Rachel. They have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable,” the president said. “They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions. I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express. I know all Americans tonight will have them in their prayers, just as Jill and I will.”

Smoke and flames rise from a house hit by an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS
A protester lifts a placard bearing the portraits of the six Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered by the army over the weekend. AFP via Getty Images
Palestinians carry a casualty at the site of an Israeli strike that destroyed several houses, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 27, 2024. REUTERS

The 81-year-old also said, “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes” and that his administration “will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

On Saturday, Biden said, “It’s time this war ended” and “I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement.”



Source link

You may also like

Leave a Comment

NEWS CONEXION puts at your disposal the widest variety of global information with the main media and international information networks that publish all universal events: news, scientific, financial, technological, sports, academic, cultural, artistic, radio TV. In addition, civic citizen journalism, connections for social inclusion, international tourism, agriculture; and beyond what your imagination wants to know

RESIENT

FEATURED

                                                                                                                                                                        2024 Copyright All Right Reserved.  @markoflorentino