President Joe Biden said Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and added he is “close” to presenting a final deal to negotiators working to strike a hostage and ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“We’re very close to that,” he said when asked by CNN if he was planning to present a final proposal.
The president’s comments came as he was returning to the White House to huddle with American officials who have been working to secure a deal that would pair a release of hostages held in Gaza with a pause in the fighting.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was also planning to attend the meeting before joining Biden for a campaign event in Pittsburgh.
The hostage release efforts gained new urgency over the weekend with the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah, including the Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
The deaths have sparked outrage inside Israel, leading to enormous protests and a nationwide strike Monday. Demonstrators have called on Netanyahu to put aside political ambitions to strike an agreement that would allow hostages to be released.
Asked Monday whether Netanyahu was doing enough to reach an agreement, Biden said simply: “No.”
His one-word answer kept with Biden’s reluctance to criticize Netanyahu in public, but nonetheless reflected deep frustrations inside the White House at how the Israeli leader has handled the conflict and the hostage talks.
A senior Israeli source criticized Biden’s statement, saying: “It is remarkable that President Biden is trying to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to both the president’s proposal on May 31st and to the American bridging proposal on August 16th, and not Hamas’s leader Sinwar who continues to oppose any deal.”
“The president’s statement is also dangerous because it comes days after Hamas executed 6 hostages, including an American citizen.”
A US official responded to that criticism by saying, “The president has been clear that Hamas is responsible for killing Hersh and the others and Hamas leaders will pay for their crimes. He is also calling for urgency from the Israeli government in securing the release of the missing remaining hostages.”
American officials said the deaths of the six hostages over the weekend would likely apply new pressure on Netanyahu to reach an agreement, though the officials also said it raised questions about how serious Hamas is toward striking a deal.
Asked Monday how the new deal being finalized would be different than other failed proposals, Biden responded: “Hope springs eternal.”
Biden, who spoke Sunday with Goldberg-Polin’s parents, said his message to them was “we’re not giving up, we’re going to continue to push as hard as we can.”
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.
