President Joe Biden on Thursday joined leaders from 17 other countries in calling on Hamas to release all hostages held in Gaza.
Citizens are being held hostage by Hamas in all countries. In addition to demanding their release, leaders are calling for an “immediate and long-term ceasefire.”
“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and Gaza for more than 200 days,” the leaders said. “This includes our citizens.”
“We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would lead to an immediate and long-term ceasefire in Gaza, which would facilitate a wave of additional necessary humanitarian assistance across Gaza.”
At the beginning of April, there were still 133 hostages in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian residents of Gaza investigate the aftermath of an Israeli attack
The statement is part of a pressure campaign to get both sides to sign a ceasefire, as the war in Gaza has raged on for almost seven months and ceasefire negotiations have stalled.
A senior government official, briefing reporters on Thursday morning, said the release of the hostages means “this crisis will subside.” It’s just a very clear path.”
“There is a very progressive deal on the table,” the official said. “I think this is the roadmap to the end of the crisis, and all Hamas has to do is release it as a vulnerable category of hostages, and then we’ll move on.”
The leaders’ statement comes after Hamas released a proof-of-life video of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, nearly seven months after he was kidnapped following the brutal Oct. 7 invasion.
The 24-year-old, born in March 2000 in California, who was taken from the Nova Festival on October 7, was seen in a video posted by Hamas today, in which he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for forcing him to spend 200 days at the terrorist group had left behind. .
Goldberg-Polin, who is missing his left hand and part of his arm, begins by identifying himself before saying:I was arrested on October 7 at the Nova Festival in Rei’m. I went looking for entertainment with my friends.
He lost his arm when he saved his friends on October 7 by throwing a grenade near them.
The emaciated man, who spent more than six months as a hostage and was seen with a shaved head, said: “Instead, I found myself struggling to survive with severe injuries all over my body.
“Yet I took it upon myself to protect myself and the people who were afraid around me because there was no one to protect us that day.
He then blames Netanyahu and his government for the decision not to rescue the hostages, saying: “Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, [you] you should be ashamed of yourself for neglecting us along with thousands of other citizens.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin (photo) is missing his left hand and part of his arm
Relatives of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza since the October 7 attacks, and supporters, protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The video also comes the day after Biden met with Abigail Edan, the four-year-old American girl who was held hostage in Gaza for several weeks at the start of the war after her parents were killed on October 7.
Biden spent more than an hour with Abigail and her family, according to the White House.
“She played in the Oval Office. “She crawled through the door of the resolute desk with that famous photo of John F. Kennedy’s son,” a senior administration official said. “She went outside and sat on the swings and played on the playground we have on the South Lawn.”
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, about two-thirds of them children and women, according to local health officials.
Meanwhile, Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafah overnight, killing at least six Palestinians.
Biden and other Israeli allies have warned that the invasion could cause mass casualties.