White House says it’s evaluating Hamas response to Israel hostage-ceasefire offer

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says that the US has received Hamas’s response to Israel’s latest offer for a hostage release and ceasefire deal, which was submitted to Qatari and Egyptian mediators this evening.

“We’re in receipt of this reply that Hamas delivered to Qatar and to Egypt, and we’re evaluating it right now,” he tells reporters during a virtual briefing, adding that it is “helpful” that the terror group has submitted its response.

US President Joe Biden presented what he said was the latest Israeli proposal for a hostage deal and ceasefire to end the Israel-Hamas war late last month, and urged the terror group to accept the offer.

The war in Gaza erupted after 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 251 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

It is believed that 116 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. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.