Joe Biden has “expressed his devastation and outrage” at the murder of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages in Gaza, the White House has said.
The US president and vice president Kamala Harris met in the White House situation room with Washington’s hostage deal negotiation team after the six hostages’ bodies were found by the Israeli military in Gaza.
“President Biden expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder, and reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable,” a readout of the meeting said.
It said that during the meeting, Mr Biden and Ms Harris “received an update from the US negotiation team on the status of the bridging proposal outlined by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt”.
“They discussed next steps in the ongoing effort to secure the release of hostages, including continuing consultations with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt.”
Analysis: Partial arms ban is a blow to Israel
A partial ban on arms exports from the UK to Israel is “powerful symbolism” and sends a “clear message”, says an international affairs analyst Dominic Waghorn.
The statement by UK foreign secretary David Lammy in the last few moments is a “big deal” despite being “caveated with various other reassurances”, he says.
“It is powerful symbolism and it sends a clear message to Israel and it is undoubtedly a blow to Israeli prestige and to Israeli diplomacy,” Waghorn adds.
He says it’s clear there is “a lot of concern in the government” about the way things are going in Israel.
“The feeling is that Israel is not doing enough to to reassure other people, the countries it’s buying its weapons from, that they are meeting the requirements for licensing those sales,” says Waghorn.
He notes that it comes at a time where there is a “great unease” and “growing disquiet on both sides of the Atlantic”.
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