US President Joe Biden urged Hamas to accept the hostage proposal crafted in Cairo earlier this week, as the terror group appeared to be lukewarm to the proposal that would see the release of 40 captives in exchange for a six-week pause to the war.
“It’s now up to Hamas. They need to move on the proposal that has been made so we get these hostages home where they belong,” Biden said during a joint press conference at the White House with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, CIA Director William Burns held talks in Cairo with officials from Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and Hamas. Expectations, however, are low that Hamas will accept the deal. Pundits have speculated that the IDF strike that killed the three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday night will complicate efforts to arrive at a deal.
Two officials with knowledge of the talks said that under a US proposal for a truce, Israel would allow the return of 150,000 Palestinians to northern Gaza with no security checks.
In return, they said, Hamas would be required to give a list of female, elderly, and sick hostages it still holds alive. CNN reported that Hamas did not have 40 live hostages that fit the criteria of the deal.
Hamas said on Tuesday that the latest proposal passed on by Egyptian and Qatari mediators did not meet the demands, but that it would study it further before responding.
Israel assesses that Hamas does not want to strike a deal yet, the two Israeli officials said. According to the Wall Street Journal, Israel would have to free 900 Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists in its jails, including 100 serving long-term sentences.
US and Israel at odds over Gaza humanitarian aid
Efforts to arrive at a deal come as the US and Israel are at odds over humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the IDF’s pending military operation in Rafah.
Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that if Israel didn’t bring a significant amount of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and do a better job of protecting civilians it would change its policy toward Israel’s military operation to destroy Hamas.
Biden on Wednesday said “I have been very blunt and straightforward with the prime minister as well as his war cabinet.
“Bibi and I had a long discussion. He agreed to do several things that related to number one, getting more aid, both food and medicine into Gaza and reducing significantly the civilian casualties in any action taken in the region,” Biden said.
He acknowledged that Israel had taken steps to improve the situation, noting that “we’ll see what [Netanyahu] does in terms of meeting the commitments he made.”
Biden struck a harsher note in an interview he gave last week to the Spanish-speaking news station Univision Noticias.
Biden was asked if he thought that Netanyahu cared more for his own political survival than the Israeli people.
“I will tell you this. I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree,” Biden said.
He spoke of his anger over the IDF’s airstrike that mistakenly killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen.
“I think it’s outrageous that those … three vehicles were hit by drones, and taken out,” he stated.
“So I’m what I’m calling for. Is for the Israelis to... call for a ceasefire [and] allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country.
“I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis, to the Jordanians, to the Egyptians, they’re prepared to move in, are prepared to move this food in.
“And I think there’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of these people. That should be done now,” Biden said.
His statements were part of an extensive interview published on Tuesday but taped earlier.
Biden was not asked about the remaining 133 hostages, nor did he mention them, but he spoke about them on Wednesday and linked their release to a six-week ceasefire deal.
The United States has also been clear that it is linking temporary ceasefire efforts with a hostage deal.