Joe Biden said Benjamin Netanyahu had not done enough to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas, amid reports that a new proposal would be sent to the Israeli prime minister as a “final proposal”.
The US president and Kamala Harris, the vice president, met with negotiators in the Situation Room to hammer out a proposal, amid protests in Israel on Monday over the deaths of six hostages in Gaza over the weekend.
Asked if Mr Netanyahu had done enough, Mr Biden replied “no”. He added that the US would not give up and would “push as hard as we can” to reach a deal.
The Washington Post reported that US officials have classified the latest proposal as a “take it or leave it deal.”
The incident comes after Israel found the bodies of six hostages in Gaza on Saturday, including Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Their deaths sparked widespread protests in Israel from critics of Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war and the hostage crisis.
During a meeting in the Situation Room on Monday, US officials said Mr Biden and Ms Harris discussed next steps in the effort to free the hostages, including continuing negotiations with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt.
In a statement afterward, Mr Biden said the US was “deeply saddened and outraged” by the deaths of Mr Goldberg-Polin and five others.
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” he said.
On Sunday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the families of the remaining hostages in the United States. The news website Axios reported that he relayed news that Mr. Biden would present a “final” proposal for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire later this week.
The American family of Edan Alexander, an Israeli soldier still held hostage in Gaza, has urged Israel to accept the deal, saying it is “now or never”.
His father, Adi Alexander, praised the United States for its “devotion and commitment” in securing a deal, saying Sunday was his 15th meeting with Mr Sullivan since his son was kidnapped on 7 October.
But in an interview with CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, on Monday, he called on US officials to “do something different, because the results are still the same after 11 months”.
Mr Alexander accused Mr Netanyahu of “prolonging the war for short-term political gain”.
“Time is passing and we are taking more bodies out of Gaza. This is unacceptable,” he said.
White HouseThe Washington Post reported that the killing of the six hostages has added urgency to the push for a deal among Biden aides.
“You cannot continue to negotiate on this issue. This process has to be done at some point,” a senior official told the newspaper.
“Does it derail the deal? No. If anything, it adds urgency to this closing phase that we are already in,” they added.
For months, the United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach a deal that would include a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
The Biden administration has criticized Hamas for not agreeing to the deal, although US foreign policy officials have also accused Netanyahu of making demands that derailed efforts.
The war in the Gaza Strip began after Hamas breached the Gaza border, killing 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 251 on October 7.
Since then, Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in retaliatory attacks, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The US response to the war has had an impact on the Biden administration and Ms Harris, the Democratic nominee in the US presidential election in November. Pro-Palestinian factions within the party have called for a ceasefire.
Ms Harris’s opponent, Republican candidate Donald Trump, has blamed Ms Harris and Mr Biden for failing to reach an agreement on the hostage situation last weekend.
