US President Joe Biden on Monday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, while revealing that his administration was “very close” to presenting a final hostage deal offer later this week. Asked by reporters at the White House — where he was arriving for a meeting with US negotiators — if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough on the issue, the president responded: “No.” The meeting on a potential hostage release-ceasefire deal was scheduled after the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday recovered the bodies of six hostages executed by Hamas in Gaza last week, one of them an American citizen. “After this horrible murder, I don’t believe anyone serious would come and propose more concessions,” Netanyahu said. “Now after this, we’re asked to show seriousness? We are asked to make concessions? “I don’t believe that either President Biden, or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving the release of the hostages would seriously ask Israel to make these concessions,” Netanyahu added.” We’ve already made them.”
