US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the implementation of the hostage deal from the beginning of the day, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson says in a statement.
At 10 a.m. local time — following Hamas’s announcement of a delay in the deal — Biden phoned Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to discuss the holdup, Watson said. An official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel earlier that Biden pushed the emir to put pressure on Hamas to move the deal forward.
Following Biden’s call, senior US officials were in regular contact with Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian counterparts to overcome hurdles to implementation, Watson says.
At 1:30 p.m. eastern time, the US was informed by Qatar that the agreement was back on track and that Red Cross staffers were en route to pick up the hostages, the White House adds.
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