Biden to Hamas: ‘Take the deal’

“It’s now up to Hamas…so we can get these hostages home,” Biden said.

By World Israel News Staff

President Joe Biden urged the Hamas terror group to accept a deal that would bring about a ceasefire and the release of hostages on Wednesday, just one day after calling on Israel to impose a unilateral, unconditional truce.

During a joint media conference at the White House alongside visiting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden said that the onus of responsibility for ending fighting in the Gaza Strip is currently on Hamas.

“It’s now up to Hamas,” Biden said. “They need to move on the proposal that has been made so we get these hostages home where they belong.”

Notably, Hamas was presented with the American-created proposal several days ago, but has been dragging its feet on either accepting or rejecting the offer.

Though Hamas initially said that the deal did not include some of their non-negotiable demands, such as a permanent end to the war, the terror group said it was carefully “studying” the proposal.

Since Sunday, Hamas has not updated Egyptian mediators regarding their position on the offer.

The framework for the deal requires the release of at least 40 live hostages still held in the Strip. Recent reports indicate that Hamas may not be able to produce that number of living hostages, which would invalidate the agreement.

In March, Basem Naim, a Hamas representative, told AFP that “we don’t know exactly who’s alive or dead.”

Some of the hostages may have been “killed because of [Israeli] strikes or hunger,” he said, placing the blame for their potential deaths on Israel.

Naim avoided acknowledging the possibility that some hostages were murdered by their captors or died because they did not receive proper medical care for wounds they sustained in the Oct. 7th terror onslaught.