‘Never give up’: Biden says Israel-Hamas ‘on the brink’ of hostage deal

US President Joe Biden says “we’re on the brink” of the hostage deal proposal he laid out in May “finally coming to fruition.”

“I have learned from my many years of public service to never, never, never, ever give up,” he says during his capstone foreign policy address at the State Department.

He says he spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, with the emir of Qatar today and that he will soon hold a call with Egypt’s president — highlighting top-level engagement often indicative of negotiations reaching their climax.

“The deal we have structured would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Biden says.

It’s unclear how intentional his word choice was, given that readouts issued over the past day have referred to the deal as one that will bring a “ceasefire,” but Biden uses the term “halt” in his remarks at the State Department.

He reiterates that Palestinians in Gaza have “been through hell — so many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed.”

“The Palestinian people deserve peace and the right to determine their own futures. Israel deserves peace and real security, and the hostages and their families deserve to be reunited. So we’re working urgently to close this deal,” Biden says.