Biden says there would be a ceasefire in Gaza ‘tomorrow’ if Hamas frees hostages
After avoiding topic at previous fundraisers, US president tells small event, ‘Israel said it’s up to Hamas; if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow’
US President Joe Biden said Saturday that a ceasefire in the ongoing war in Gaza would be possible as soon as “tomorrow” if Hamas released 128 hostages held since the terror group’s October 7 massacre.
“There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages,” Biden said at a fundraiser outside Seattle, at the home of a former Microsoft executive, after avoiding the topic at three similar events on Friday.
“Israel said it’s up to Hamas; if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow. And the ceasefire would begin tomorrow,” Biden told the crowd of about 100 people.
The US president raised the issue after warning Israel on Wednesday that he would stop supplying 2,000- and 500-pound bombs and artillery shells if its forces attack the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, amid concerns about civilian casualties.
“If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used… to deal with the cities,” Biden said in an interview with CNN.
“We’re not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used.”
The latest round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over a deal to halt fighting in the Strip and free the hostages appeared to break up with no discernible progress this week, as the terror group said it had no intention of budging from a proposal already rejected by Israel.
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, mostly civilians, amid many acts of brutality and sexual assault.
It is believed that 128 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that.
Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 12 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 36 of those still held by Hamas, citing intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza. One more person is listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.
Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
