President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a cease-fire and hostage release agreement in the war in Gaza as the U.S. looks to get a final deal in place. 

“No,” Biden said Monday when asked by reporters whether Netanyahu was doing enough.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a cease-fire and hostage release agreement in the war in Gaza as the U.S. looks to get a final deal in place

  • The comment came after the bodies of six hostages, including an American-Israeli citizen, were found in a tunnel in Gaza over the weekend
  • Asked by reporters on Monday if the U.S. was planning on presenting a final deal to Israel and Hamas this week, the president replied “We’re very close to that" 
  • Earlier this summer, Biden told reporters that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the general framework of a plan that the U.S. president laid out in a speech in May, but in the weeks since, White House officials have said the U.S., Qatar and Egypt were working on the final details of implementing the plan

Biden spoke to reporters as he returned to the White House to meet with his team in the Situation Room on developments in the region.

The comment came after the bodies of six hostages, including an American-Israeli citizen, were found in a tunnel in Gaza over the weekend after they were killed by Hamas. 

The development led to Israelis taking to the streets to call on their prime minister to accept a ceasefire and hostage release proposal that the U.S., Qatar and Egypt have been trying to put in place for months. 

Earlier this summer, Biden told reporters that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the general framework of a plan that the U.S. president laid out in a speech in May. But in the weeks since, White House officials have said the U.S., Qatar and Egypt were working on the final details of implementing the plan. 

Asked by reporters on Monday if the U.S. was planning on presenting a final deal to Israel and Hamas this week, the president replied “We’re very close to that.” 

“Hope springs eternal,” he said when a reporter followed up asking why he believes this time will be successful, invoking a phrase he has often used in regards to this conflict. 

Following his meeting in the Situation Room Monday morning, Biden told reporters as he was leaving the White House to hit the campaign trail that his team is in “the middle of negotiations” on a deal. He added that the negotiations are with his colleagues from Qatar and Egypt – who have been partners with the U.S. in trying to get a deal – and “not with him,” referring to Netanyahu. 

“We're still in negotiations, not with him, but with my colleagues from Qatar and from Egypt,” he said. 

In a press conference on Monday, the Israeli prime minister pushed back on what he said was pressure from around the world, adding that Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace would ask Hamas to make concessions at this point rather than asking Israel to make more. 

Biden, who has had a rocky relationship with his Israeli counterpart throughout the war, told reporters when he returned from the campaign trail on Monday that he will “eventually” speak to Netanyahu. 

The president spoke with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the American-Israeli hostage killed by Hamas and found over the weekend, saying in a statement he is “devastated and outraged.”