JERUSALEM (VINnews) — US President Joe Biden emphasized to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Tuesday that, following the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, the priority should shift to securing the release of hostages and achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, two US officials told Barak Ravid of Axios on Wednesday. Currently, 101 hostages remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza, including seven American citizens.
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US officials told Axios that Biden is committed to pushing for a hostage release deal until his final day in office, even if President-elect Donald Trump ultimately receives credit for any agreement.
“Biden thinks that doing nothing and telling the hostage families to wait until Jan. 20 would be crazy,” one of Biden’s aides told Axios.
The phone call between Biden and Netanyahu, which occurred shortly after Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the Lebanon ceasefire, was brief. Aside from Lebanon, the conversation focused solely on efforts to secure a hostage deal and establish a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We have an opportunity now. Let’s get the hostages,” Biden reportedly told Netanyahu. US officials said Netanyahu responded positively, expressing a willingness to pursue the effort.
Israeli and US officials believe that the Lebanon ceasefire agreement has improved prospects for a Gaza deal, even if only the first phase—releasing some of the hostages—is implemented.
A senior Israeli Cabinet minister told Axios that Netanyahu is open to a partial hostage deal that would not require ending the war or fully withdrawing Israeli forces from Gaza.
“There is an intention to make a renewed effort to get a deal in Gaza. It was clear that the war in Lebanon had to end first. Now Hamas is in a weaker position because Hezbollah is out of the war,” the minister said.
The Hamas terrorist organization put out an official statement earlier on Wednesday, saying that it is interested in a deal to end the war which began after it launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. However, in that statement, Hamas again insisted that any agreement must include an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israel and Hamas have held several rounds of indirect negotiations, with the US, Egypt and Qatar serving as mediators, in an attempt to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and for Hamas to free the hostages it has been holding since the October 7, 2023 massacre.
The United States had been pushing an outline for a ceasefire and hostage release deal that President Joe Biden first laid out in May, but Hamas rejected that proposal and every other proposal that has been presented to it. In the past Biden has said that Netanyahu is not doing enough to reach a hostage agreement, but has also blamed Hamas for the impasse in negotiations.
No this is not an opportunity but a capitulation to an enemy that has no moral comps and will continue to attack Isreal again as soon as they can restock
What this is is your diluted idea of success
Before being forced out of office by your own party
This evil Biden has to be one of the most evil and worst president in Americans history. He’s constantly pressuring Israel. A truly Wicked human being. May all of Israel see him get punished for all the misery that he’s caused for America Israel and the world.
We saw what happens with this when Israel let Arafat run to Tusnisia instead of finishing him off. The only good part of this is that Israel fighters will not be dieing in Lebanon. Fighting has a cost to Israel in blood.
So in place of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, it is now a 20km band across Northern Israel. Hezbollah-Iran win. Thanks Biden, Schumer & fellow traveler Jews.
Sorry but the two are not the same. Hezbollah is running an advanced somewhat westernised country. They can’t afford to allow Beruit to look like Gaza or their southern towns. They are part of the Lebanese parliament. They also live better lives themselves. They are evil but not suicidal. Hamas on the other hand is just pure suicidal. And it’s already all in ruins. They have no incentive at all for a deal unless we free every terrorist from jail who will just kill us again. The two aren’t the same. I give Biden credit for trying but it’s a dream at this point
The only reason we may have an Opportunity is because Natanyahu had the vision & guts NOT to listen to you & your idiots
Well , 101 hostages ? do you mean ALIVE NOW ?or what ?A
To Ben : Thanks, apparently you may be sceptical about this number of hostages .I am extremely so .
Try as he may,biden will still be remembered as the biggest Jac Kass that occupied the white house.
Many of the hostages are citizens of USA or of other countries. Why should Israel be the only country paying the price to Hamas in an “exchange deal”. Why didn’t America and those other countries also contribute toward “avoiding innocent civilian casualties” by sending their own soldiers into harm’s way in Gaza and Lebanon, instead of leaving it all to IDF?