U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday he was close to presenting a final proposal for a deal to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and said he did not think Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing enough to secure such an agreement.
Biden was speaking to reporters at the White House after Israeli forces over the weekend recovered the bodies of six hostages, including 23-year-old American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from a tunnel in Gaza. Israel's military said they were recently killed by Palestinian Hamas militants.
Asked if he was planning to present a final hostage deal to both sides this week, Biden said: "We're very close to that."
"Hope springs eternal," he added when asked whether a deal would be successful.
The latest hostage deaths sparked more criticism of the Biden administration's Gaza ceasefire strategy in the midst of the U.S. presidential campaign and ratcheted up pressure on Netanyahu from Israelis to bring the remaining hostages home.
Asked whether he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal, Biden said "No." He did not elaborate.
Biden's fresh criticism of Netanyahu comes as he and Vice President Kamala Harris, who has replaced the president at the top of the Democratic ticket for the Nov. 5 election, face increased calls for decisive action to end the nearly 11-month-old war in Gaza.
The conflict has sown divisions among Democrats, with many progressives pressing Biden to restrict or at least place conditions on U.S. weapons supplies to Israel, Washington's chief Middle East ally.
Biden and Harris were due on Monday to meet with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team to discuss efforts toward an agreement for the release of the remaining captives.
