US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with US negotiators on Monday to discuss the ongoing efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The meeting comes in the wake of the discovery of six hostages, including an American citizen, who were killed by Hamas.
The US, along with mediators Qatar and Egypt, has been working for months to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and secure the release of the hostages. The current negotiations are based on a framework outlined by Biden in May.
The recovery of the six bodies in a tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah last week highlighted the grim reality of the situation. Autopsies revealed that the hostages were shot at close range by their captors.
In a statement, the White House expressed the gravity of the situation, stating that Biden and Harris would discuss efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages following the “murder of American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas on Saturday.”
During the October 7 attack, Hamas abducted around 250 individuals, taking them to Gaza as hostages. While around 100 were released during a brief truce in November, approximately 100 remain in Gaza, with around a third presumed dead by the Israeli military.
The return of hostages is one of the primary objectives of the war. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has added several demands to the original proposal outlined by Biden, stalling the talks. The most contentious of these demands is for Israel to retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Despite Israeli military and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stating that such control at the cost of hostages is unnecessary, Netanyahu has remained firm on the demand, leading to a stalemate as Hamas and Egypt have rejected it.
Following the discovery of the bodies, Biden condemned the killings as “tragic as it is reprehensible.” He vowed that Hamas would be held accountable for the deaths. “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages,” said Biden.
