WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday he was close to presenting a final proposal for a deal to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza but said he did not think Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu was 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 American-Israeli, from a tunnel in Gaza where it said they were recently killed by Palestinian Hamas militants.
That has sparked criticism of the Biden 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 U.S. hostage deal negotiating team to discuss efforts toward an agreement for the release of the remaining captives.
(Reporting By Jeff Mason, writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Toby Chopra and Gareth Jones)
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