US President Joe Biden on Thursday commented, in a post on social media site X, on his meeting with families of hostages with US citizenship who are held in Gaza.
“This afternoon, I welcomed the families of Americans taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 to the White House,” Biden wrote.
“They've endured the unthinkable. I will do everything possible to bring every hostage home, including the remains of those murdered in captivity,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office said earlier on Thursday that Netanyahu and Biden had met at the White House with the Siegel family, the Alexander family, the Dekel-Chen family, the Naftali family, the Neutra family, the Goldberg-Polin family and the Chen family.
Participating in the meeting for the Israeli side were Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Israeli Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog.
Participating in the meeting for the American side were National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Special Envoy for the Middle East Brett McGurk and US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the families of the hostages issued a statement which said, "We met with President Biden and his staff and with the Prime Minister of Israel and his advisers. We arrived with a sense of urgency. Every day that passes, the return of our loved ones alive becomes less likely. That is why we made it clear to the two leaders that a deal must be made to return all the hostages and end the suffering of the residents of Gaza. The killing will stop when the hostages return."
"At the end of the meeting, we feel more optimistic than we have at any point since the previous agreement to release hostages in November. Biden and Netanyahu pledged that they understand that, at this moment, we must not waste time and that the current deal on the table should be completed with as few changes as possible," the families said.
Biden in late May outlined a three-phase proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. He recently indicated that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the outline and reiterated his determination to implement the proposal.
On Wednesday, a US official said that the negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are in their "closing stages", adding that Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would discuss the details during their meeting on Thursday.