White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a press conference on Monday that despite the administration's pressure on Israel, “the main obstacle” to a hostage deal leading to a ceasefire is Hamas.
Last week, President Joe Biden criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming he had not done enough to move forward with the hostage deal after Hamas killed six hostages, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg Pollin.
But as Prime Minister Netanyahu pointed out at the press conference, the Biden administration itself has repeatedly noted that while Israel compromised to agree to the terms of the agreement proposed by the White House, Hamas did not.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference on Monday that the killings of the six hostages highlighted the “urgency” of a hostage deal, but added that Hamas had been an obstacle to negotiations.
Jean-Pierre also confirmed reports that Hamas had made new demands to the ceasefire agreement.
of The New York Times Reported “We have recently added new demands for the release of hostages and are calling for more Palestinian prisoners to be released in the early stages of any agreement,” it said last week.
Hamas has previously claimed that Israel had added its own conditions to the agreement.
The Biden administration had planned to present or impose a “final version” of the proposed hostage ceasefire agreement, but it is unclear whether it will actually do so, lest it be seen as encouraging Hamas to kill hostages.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday It airs Sundays from 7:00pm-10:00pm ET (4:00pm-7:00pm PT) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of the following books: Agenda: What President Trump Should Do in His First 100 Daysavailable for pre-order on Amazon. He also Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump's presidencyavailable now on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
