Written by Jeff Mason and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and that the US was close to presenting a final proposal to negotiators for the hostages and a cease-fire agreement.
Biden was speaking to reporters at the White House after Israeli forces over the weekend found the bodies of six hostages, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, in the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers said they were recently killed by Palestinian terrorists, Hamas.
That sparked criticism of the Biden administration's strategy to end the war in Gaza and put pressure on Netanyahu from Israel to bring back the remaining hostages.
Asked if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a hostage deal, Biden said “No.” He did not elaborate on his words.
Netanyahu appeared to push back when asked about Biden's comments, saying that pressure should be placed on Hamas, not Israel, especially after the hostages died.
“And now after this we are asked to show seriousness? We are asked to make concessions? What message does this send to Hamas? It says, kill more hostages,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said that he does not believe that Biden or anyone else who is determined to bring peace would ask Israel to make another compromise and that instead it is Hamas that should do that.
Asked if he planned to present a hostage settlement to both sides this week, Biden told reporters: “We're very close to that.”
“There is always hope,” he added when asked if the deal would be successful.
Biden said later in the evening that he plans to speak with Netanyahu “eventually” but did not specify a specific time 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 US hostage negotiating team, where the president expressed “devastation and anger” at the killing of the hostages, and discussed next steps in efforts to free the remaining prisoners, the White House said.
Biden's new criticism of Netanyahu comes as he and Harris, who has won the presidency at the top of the Democratic ticket in the Nov. 5 election, face calls for drastic action to end Israel's nearly 11-month-old war in Gaza.
The conflict has created a divide among Democrats, with many progressives pressing Biden to limit or at least impose conditions on the supply of US weapons to Israel, Washington's main ally in the Middle East.
ISRAEL AND HAMAS REPLY TO BIDEN
Senior Israeli sources said it was “amazing” that Biden was pressing Netanyahu for a hostage deal rather than Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
In response to Israel's comments, the American official said that although Biden was clear that Hamas was responsible for the deaths of the hostages, “he also asked that the Israeli government hurry to release the remaining hostages.”
A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that Biden's criticism of Netanyahu “reflects America's view that Netanyahu is the one who mishandled efforts to reach an agreement.”
He said the group would respond well to a proposal that would ensure a permanent ceasefire and Israel's complete withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu, who has accused Hamas of disrupting any deal, said over the weekend that “anyone who kills hostages does not want a deal.”
Israeli protesters took to the streets on Monday for a second day, and the country's largest labor union went on strike to pressure the government into a deal to return hostages. Thousands of pro-Palestinian activists protesting US support for Israel staged a protest in New York City on Monday.
Months of stalled talks between the US, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to reach an agreement on the Gaza proposal put forward by Biden in May.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel's subsequent offensive on Hamas-held territory has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, triggering a famine and leading to accusations of genocide at the World Court that Israel denies. .
