Israel expected to send updated proposal to Hamas in coming days; relatives of captives say PM committed to urgently finalize agreement aimed at freeing abductees, ending war
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that it is time to nail down a hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas as families of hostages held by the terror expressed rare optimism that an agreement could finally come together.
“There has been hopeful movement” in talks for a deal to end the war in Gaza and release hostages after over nine months,” Harris said following what she said was “a frank and constructive meeting” with Netanyahu.
“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, ‘it is time to get this deal done,’” she added.
Netanyahu met with Harris after sitting down with Biden at the White House for the first time since the president took office in 2021. Netanyahu and Biden later met again together with the families of eight US citizens being held by Hamas.
Relatives of captives said they left that meeting more hopeful than since the last hostage-for-prisoners deal saw 105 civilians freed in November.
“After asking a series of difficult questions and getting answers to all of them… we feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November,” hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen’s father Jonathan Dekel-Chen told reporters outside the White House, adding that their meeting was “productive and honest.”
“We got absolute commitments from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment now to waste no time in completing this deal as it currently stands with as little change as humanly possible,” he said claiming the US government, Congress and the Israeli leadership were all in lockstep.
The families said they had been told Israel would submit an updated deal proposal to Hamas within days.
“As a result of the conversations between the leaders and their staffs [before we met them], they are working as we speak to put together an updated Israeli proposal that will be sent back to Hamas. It is all within the framework of that three-stage proposed deal that the President announced at the end of May,” Dekel-Chen told The Times of Israel.
During their White House meeting earlier Thursday, Biden told Netanyahu that “we need to get this deal over the line,” according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
“We’ve been working on it for some time,” Miller said. “It’s been a tough negotiation. We’ve made progress. We’ve got a framework for an agreement done. We now need to bridge the final differences and get a deal in place so we can all move forward.”
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, wearing a dog tag that he received from one of the American hostage families, told reporters that Biden conveyed to Netanyahu “how deeply and strongly the president feels that we’ve got to get this hostage deal in place and get a ceasefire — at least for phase one for those first six weeks.”
Kirby reiterated that gaps remain, but that they’re bridgeable if there’s leadership and willingness to compromise and make the effort.
“Today is the 293rd day that these hostages have been held captive by Hamas and you just have to assume that it is in the most horrific of circumstances,” the White House spokesman lamented.
In a readout of the meeting, the White House said Biden and Netanyahu discussed the hostage talks in detail, and that the president “expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza.”
Biden also pressed Netanyahu on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the flow of aid into the enclave.
The president “reaffirmed the US ironclad commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” according to the readout.
During her remarks, Harris made a point of reading out the names of all eight American-Israel hostages still held captive by Hamas — something no US official has done in this manner.
There are thought to be 111 hostages in Gaza, including the remains of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF, out of the 251 people abducted during the Hamas onslaught nearly 300 days ago.
But Harris also spoke forcefully about the devastation in Gaza after nearly 10 months of war, saying she pressed Netanyahu about the scale of human suffering in Gaza.
Now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Harris’s remarks on the war were subject to extra scrutiny, with some sensing in her comments a shift in the administration’s tone toward Israel and Gaza. US officials have dismissed the narrative that Harris’s stance on Israel differs from Biden’s or that she played a “bad cop” role in the administration vis-a-vis Israel.
“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Harris said. “I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there.”
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 39,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military offensive’, initiated in the wake of the October 7 massacres in southern Israel. The toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris said. “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.”
In her statement after the Netanyahu meeting, Harris stressed that she remains “committed to a path forward that can lead to a two-state solution.
“I know right now, it is hard to conceive of that prospect,” she continued. “But a two-state solution is the only path that ensures Israel remains a secure Jewish and democratic state, and one that ensures Palestinians can finally realize the freedom security and prosperity that they rightly deserve.”
Harris also highlighted her long history with the state of Israel, recalling how she raised money as a child to plant trees in the Jewish state. Earlier in the day, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom Netanyahu will meet Friday in Florida, said at a rally in North Carolina the vice president was “totally against the Jewish people.”
“From when I was a young girl, collecting funds to plant trees for Israel, to my time in the United States Senate and now at the White House, I’ve had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security, and to the people of Israel,” Harris said.
Earlier Thursday, Harris blasted the “despicable acts and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric” by “unpatriotic” anti-Israel demonstrators who rioted outside the Capitol on Wednesday in protest of Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress.
Relatives of hostages had also expressed dismay with Netanyahu’s address to Congress for failing to include comments fully backing the US-led hostage deal proposal. But many were more sanguine following the sitdown with Netanyahu and Biden.
Hostage Itay Chen’s father Ruby told reporters walking out of the White House that Biden gave the American hostage families hope that “something will happen in the coming days.”
Ronen Neutra, father of hostage Omer Neutra, told The Times of Israel he had been skeptical of Netanyahu’s commitment to a deal, but had been heartened by the premier’s comments in the meeting. “We did hear from him that the deal must advance and that they’re working on it. Therefore, we’re now more optimistic,” he says.
Dekel-Chen, who had also doubted Netanyahu’s ability to agree to a deal, said he was “guardedly optimistic” moving forward.
“I think the prime minister understands that not only are the eyes of the world on Hamas right now, they’re also on him. Because so many different sides — both within Israel, but also outside of Israel — are saying the conditions are there,” he said.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s father Jon noted that there was currently “a rare moment where the current president of the United States and anybody who might become president of the United States — both vice president Harris and Donald Trump — are all aligned in saying this deal must get done now.”
“Anybody on any side who makes the mistaken political calculus that there’s benefit in waiting will find out that that logic is wrong,” Polin said sternly.
Talks for a hostage deal had initially been due to resume in Qatar Thursday, but hours before his speech to Congress Wednesday, Netanyahu’s office announced that the departure of Israel’s hostage negotiating team would be delayed until after Thursday’s meetings in Washington.
Netanyahu had been thought to be planning to use the meeting to win US backing for newer Israeli demands in the talks. The prime minister has issued two new demands in recent weeks: that Israeli forces be allowed to remain in the Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent weapons smuggling, and that a mechanism be established to prevent armed terrorists from returning to the northern Strip.
Hostage relatives were told by Netanyahu that an updated proposal would be sent to Hamas within two days, according to Hebrew media reports.
A US-backed proposal to release remaining hostages in Gaza and withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza over three phases is something that would be a legacy-affirming achievement for Biden, who abandoned his reelection bid and endorsed Harris. It could also be a boon for Harris in her bid to succeed him.
Netanyahu and Biden, a centrist Democrat, have had ups-and-downs over the years. Making what will likely be his last White House meeting with Biden, Netanyahu reflected on the roughly 40 years they’ve known each other and thanked the president for his service.
“From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” Netanyahu told Biden.
As reported by The Times of Israel