WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden will sit down on Monday with US negotiators pushing for a hostage-release deal in the Israel-Hamas war, the White House said, after the deaths of six captives in Gaza, including an American citizen.
\nBiden\u2019s official schedule was revised to make time for the White House meeting, which will also be attended by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to succeed him in November\u2019s presidential election.
\nA statement announcing Biden\u2019s updated schedule said he and Harris would meet Monday \u201cwith the US hostage deal negotiating team following the murder of American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas on Saturday, and discuss efforts to drive toward a deal that secures the release of the remaining hostages.\u201d
\nThe United States, along with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar, has spent months pushing for a hostage-prisoner exchange and ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
\nMilitants seized 251 hostages during the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 97 of whom remain in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
\nScores of hostages were released during a one-week truce in November, with campaigners and family members believing another deal is the best option to ensure the rest return.
\nA nationwide strike in Israel aimed at ramping up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government to secure the release of the remaining captives was set to begin Monday.
\nHostage relatives and advocates have accused Netanyahu\u2019s administration of not doing enough to bring the captives back alive, and have called for an immediate ceasefire to rescue the rest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden will sit down on Monday with US negotiators pushing for a hostage-release deal in the Israel-Hamas war, the White House said, after the deaths of six captives in Gaza, including an American citizen. Biden\u2019s official schedule was revised to make time for the White House meeting, which will also be attended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-428661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n