Joe Biden has said Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas, amid reports suggesting a new proposal would be sent to the Israeli prime minister as “final”.
The US president and Kamala Harris, his vice-president, met negotiators in the Situation Room to hammer out a proposal, as protests engulfed Israel on Monday over the weekend deaths of six hostages in Gaza.
Asked whether Mr Netanyahu was doing enough, Mr Biden replied “no”. He added that the US would not give up, and would “push as hard as we can” for a deal.
US officials have categorised this latest proposal as a “take it or leave it deal”, the Washington Post reported.
It comes after Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza on Saturday, including Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Their deaths have caused widespread protests in Israel from those critical of Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war and hostage crisis.
During Monday’s meeting in the Situation Room, US officials said Mr Biden and Ms Harris discussed next steps in the effort to release of the hostages, including continuing talks with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt.
In a statement after, Mr Biden said the US was “devastated and outraged” by the death of Mr Goldberg-Polin and the five others.
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” he said.
On Sunday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan met the US families of remaining hostages. The Axios news website reported that he relayed the news that Mr Biden would present a “final” hostage release and ceasefire proposal later this week.
The US family of Edan Alexander, a member of the Israeli military who is still a hostage in Gaza, have pushed for Israel to accept the deal, saying it is “now or never”.
His father Adi Alexander praised the US for its “dedication and commitment” to secure a deal, saying that Sunday was his 15th meeting with Mr Sullivan since his son’s abduction on 7 October.
But in an interview with BBC’s US partner CBS News on Monday, he appealed to US officials to “do something different, because the outcome is the same after 11 months”.
Mr Alexander accused Mr Netanyahu of “prolonging the war for short-term political gain”.
“Time is passing by and we’re getting more bodies out of Gaza. This is unacceptable,” he said.
The Washington Post reported the killing of the six hostages increased the urgency among Mr Biden’s aides to push for a deal.
“You can’t keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point,” one senior official told the newspaper.
“Does it derail the deal? No. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in,” they added.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have for months tried to secure a deal that includes a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
The Biden administration has criticised Hamas for failing to agree to a deal, though US foreign officials have also accused Mr Netanyahu of making demands that have also derailed efforts.
The war in the strip began after Hamas breached the Gaza border, killed 1,200 Israelis and abducted 251 on 7 October.
Israel has since killed over 40,000 Palestinians in retaliatory attacks, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The US response to the war has had implications for the Biden administration and Ms Harris, the Democratic nominee in November’s US presidential election. Pro-Palestinian factions in the party have urged for a ceasefire.
Ms Harris’s opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump, has blamed Ms Harris and Mr Biden’s failure to secure a deal for the hostage deaths last weekend.
