A senior Hamas official says Joe Biden’s comments about Benjamin Netanyahu point to acknowledgement by the US that the Israeli prime minister was undermining efforts to secure a ceasefire.
Sami Abu Zuhri said any proposal for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal would be received positively.
But senior Israeli sources have told the Reuters news agency that it is “remarkable” Mr Biden is putting pressure on Mr Netanyahu – who they say has agreed to US proposals – and not Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
They said the US president’s statement that the Israeli leader is not doing enough to secure the release of hostages is dangerous as it came days after six hostages, including an Israeli-American, were killed in Gaza.
Netanyahu to give news conference
Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a rare news conference at 6.15pm UK time.
It comes after mass criticism over the Israeli prime minister’s handling of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza and his US counterpart Joe Biden telling reporters he is not doing “enough” to secure their release.
Analysis: Netanyahu is where Americans will apply pressure from now on
Joe Biden’s remarks that Benjamin Netanyahu is “not doing enough” to broker a hostage deal with Hamas are “significant”.
Mr Biden told reporters as he was travelling back to the White House this morning that “we are very close to a hostage deal” – but that the Israeli prime minster is not “doing enough”.
“We’ve heard American criticism of Israel in the past – that is a consistent line,” a U.S. political analyst James Matthews says.
“But the change will come in Netanyahu. That’s where the pressure will come from the Americans from now on.”
He says this morning’s “snatched remarks” to the press were a sign of a “clear change in dynamic” around the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
Before this weekend – and the news of six hostages found murdered – the deal was being offered as “take it or leave it” one.
But Matthews adds: “Clearly that has been hardened by what we have seen.
“But that’s the challenge for Biden right now. How does he progress a situation towards a deal that can work – where he has failed to do so far – how does he use the change in dynamic to change the nature of that deal?”
For context: Negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas have been mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar since war broke out last October.
Today Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, are meeting the hostage deal negotiation team in the White House situation room.
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