US President Joe Biden leads a joint statement from the leaders of 18 countries with citizens held hostage by Hamas calling on the terrorist group to immediately release them from Gaza.
The leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Hungary joined Biden in this statement. Israel was not included as the aim was to secure international support for the initiative.
“We demand the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days. Among these there are also our citizens. The fate of the hostages and the civilian population of Gaza, which is protected by international law, is of international concern,” the leaders say.
“We emphasize that the agreement on the table for the release of the hostages would lead to an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza, which would facilitate a wave of further needed humanitarian assistance across Gaza and bring about a credible end to hostilities.”
“Gazese people could return to their homes and lands with the necessary preparations to secure shelter and humanitarian supplies,” the statement added.
“We strongly support the ongoing mediation efforts to bring our people home. We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages and put an end to this crisis, so that we can collectively focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region,” the leaders said.
A senior administration official told reporters in a briefing call ahead of the joint statement that the United States had tried to release it before the war, but there had been disagreements between the countries over the language that had prevented its release. .
During a meeting with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan about two weeks ago, American relatives of the hostages asked the Biden administration to try to draft a joint statement again, the senior US official says.
This time the United States managed to gain unanimous support thanks to the countries’ understanding of the increasingly serious situation facing the hostages. The White House shared with them the elements of the agreement on the table that Israel accepted but which Hamas rejected.
“There is a deal on the table that would bring an immediate ceasefire to Gaza with the release of women, wounded, elderly and sick hostages that is ready to go. We worked it out in great detail and Hamas rejected it. Because of this, there is still fighting going on in Gaza“the senior administration official said.
The senior official also said that the US forensic analysis of the Hamas video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin has been ongoing since it received the video on Monday, adding that the White House has been in contact with the 23-year-old hostage’s family Israeli-American and is working with Qatar, Egypt and others to secure his release, along with those of the other hostages.
During the briefing, the official said Biden spent more than an hour with Avigail Idan and her family at the White House yesterday, letting the 4-year-old girl released in the latest hostage deal in November play in the Oval Office and crawled through the door of the Resolute Desk, as John F. Kennedy Jr. was seen doing while his father worked above him in an iconic 1963 photo.
While Avigail played, Biden spoke with the aunt and uncle who raised her after her return. The four-year-old girl was with her parents when they were killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7. The President also updated the family on the ongoing efforts to free the remaining hostages.
