Biden invites families of Americans taken hostage by Hamas in October 7 terror attack on Israel to White House for first meeting after they protest at his gate and were declined invitation to Hanukkah reception

President Joe Biden invited family members of Americans taken hostage by Hamas to a meeting at the White House on Wednesday after some turned down an invitation to a menorah lighting ceremony.

It will be Biden's first face-to-face meeting with them since the Israeli Americans were kidnapped in the attacks in Israel on October 7.

The invitation to the meeting came after several family members asked to attend a Hanukkah reception at the White House on Monday evening but never received invitations, the father of a missing Israeli American told CNN.

“We are not going to stop until every hostage has returned home,” Biden told donors in Washington on Friday, saying America's commitment to Israel is “unwavering.”

Several family members camped outside the White House in Lafayette Square, where they tried to organize a holiday meal Tuesday on a picnic blanket on the sidewalk outside the residence to highlight the missing places that will be at their tables during the holidays.

It is believed that eight Americans – seven men and one woman – are still being held hostage after being captured since Hamas unleashed its surprise attack on Israel. Four Americans, including a four-year-old girl and three women, were released as part of a US-negotiated ceasefire brokered with the help of Qatar and Egypt.

It is unclear how many families will attend Wednesday's meeting with the president and some may appear virtually, a White House official told NBC News.

Biden spoke with some family members via Zoom. Other senior administration officials have met in person with some family members, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Family members have expressed frustration over the slow pace at which Israeli Americans are being released. The White House has said that at least 31 Americans were killed by Hamas and other militant groups on October 7.

Government officials have repeatedly said they remain in close contact with their Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian counterparts on the situation after the truce that allowed the release of some hostages was broken.

Sullivan blamed Hamas for the failure of the November 24-December 1 ceasefire because the militants refused to release any more hostages.

'To this day, Hamas continues to detain large numbers of women, the elderly and civilians. And yet it still says, Hey, how about if everyone just stops. So we believe that Israel has the right to defend itself,” he said at a Wall Street Journal forum.

Meanwhile, Ruby Chen, whose son Itay is a reservist who has been missing since Hamas's attack on Israel, told CNN that a number of families were in Washington DC this week and had asked the White House if they wanted to attend the Hanukkah reception, but that they were not invited. .

The reception, which celebrated the fifth night of Hanukkah, was attended by about 800 guests, including Holocaust survivors, lawmakers and several Jewish leaders, according to the White House.

A community of Jewish groups gather outside the White House on the fifth night of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights

President Joe Biden watches as Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff lights the menorah during a Hanukkah holiday reception in the East Room of the White House

At that event, Biden praised the work his administration has done to secure the release of the remaining hostages and get humanitarian aid to Gaza.

He said he had worked “probably 20 hours” with Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials.

“There's a whole bunch of things going on right now that are really, really difficult,” Biden said. “We have freed more than a hundred hostages and we will not stop until we get them all home.”

But the White House has also said they have no specific news to share.

“We are not close to a new agreement on a humanitarian pause and I have no news here today of the return of hostages, either ours or those of many other hostage-holding countries,” spokesman John Kirby said. last week.

“We are still trying to get as much information as possible about the hostages being held. We have, as I said before, some information on some of the hostages because their families are talking to us. And that has been a great source of information and context,” he added.

“We have less information about others, but not for lack of trying.”