US President Joe Biden says he is close to presenting a final proposal for a deal to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza but he does not think Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing enough to secure such an agreement.
Biden was speaking to reporters at the White House after Israeli forces over the weekend recovered the bodies of six hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old US-Israeli, from a tunnel in Gaza where it said they were recently killed by Palestinian Hamas militants.
That has sparked criticism of the US administration’s Gaza ceasefire strategy and ratcheted up pressure on Netanyahu from Israelis to bring the remaining hostages home.
Asked whether he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal, Biden said “No”.
He did not elaborate.
Asked if he was planning to present a final hostage deal to both sides this week, Biden said: “We’re very close to that.”
“Hope springs eternal,” he added when asked whether a deal would be successful.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were due on Monday to meet with the US hostage deal negotiating team to discuss efforts toward an agreement for the release of the remaining captives.
Israeli protesters took to the streets for a second day on Monday and the largest trade union launched a general strike to press the government to reach a deal to return hostages still held by Hamas.
The strike disrupted transport and medical services in several Israeli districts and many shops and businesses were closed after the head of the Histadrut union, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers, called a stoppage.
The recovery at the weekend of the six hostages, who authorities said were shot dead between just 48-72 hours before being found by Israeli forces, triggered a wave of grief and fury in Israel, prompting at least half a million people to take to the streets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Sunday.
The demonstrators are demanding Netanyahu reach a ceasefire agreement with Palestinian militant group Hamas to bring the remaining 101 hostages home.
On Monday, thousands again gathered in Tel Aviv, waving blue and white Israeli flags or carrying photographs of hostages.
Professor Yehuda Ullmann, head of the surgery division at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, said Monday’s strike action went against the grain of doctors dedicated to saving patients.
“But we are in a very, very hard situation now, we and all the country, because of the hostages. And yesterday it was maybe the hardest day,” he said.
“We can’t stand aside and that’s why we came into a strike.”
Following an intervention by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Labour Court ruled the general strike must end at 2.30pm, saying the strike had no economic basis and was largely political.
Histadrut accepted the ruling and called off the strike.
Later, at a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the strike action was shameful during wartime and said it strengthened the hand of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.
“It’s like telling him, you murdered six (hostages) and we are with you,” Israeli media quoted the prime minister as saying.
Source Agencies
