Biden and Qatari emir discuss Gaza, agree all hostages must be released
- Qatar has been leading mediation efforts between Hamas and Israeli officials over the hostages
- Israel’s military pressed on with its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, engaging in ground battles
US President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani about developments in Gaza and “urgent ongoing efforts” to secure the release of hostages being held by the Hamas militant group, the White House said.
Biden “unequivocally” condemned the holding of hostages by Hamas, including many young children, one of whom is a three-year old American citizen whose parents were killed by the group on October 7, the White House said in a statement.
“The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay,” the statement said.
Reuters last week reported that Qatar, where several political leaders of Hamas are based, has been leading mediation efforts between Hamas and Israeli officials over the hostages.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s State of the Union earlier on Sunday that “active, intensive negotiations” were under way involving Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States on securing the release of more hostages, but it was not clear if all were alive.
“The goal here is to do what is necessary at the negotiating table to ensure that we get the safe return of all of the hostages, including the Americans,” Sullivan told CNN, noting that nine Americans were missing, along with one person with permanent resident status in the United States.
Gaza and ‘the graveyard for children’: the moral decline of Western politics
“We don’t know the status, whether they are alive or whether they have passed away, but we are looking to get the safe recovery of all of those individuals,” he said. Sullivan said he would meet with the families of the American hostages this week.
A US official said Brett McGurk, Biden’s senior Middle East adviser, will visit Israel on Tuesday and meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with further visits planned in Brussels, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar.
Qatar’s government earlier said Al Thani had stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the permanent opening of the Rafah crossing into Egypt in the call with Biden.
Washington has rejected calls from Arab leaders and others for it to insist that Israel halt its assault on the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.
The White House statement made no mention of any discussion of a ceasefire, saying only that the leaders talked about the need “to protect innocent civilians and ongoing efforts to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”
Biden also affirmed his vision for a future Palestinian state “where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side with equal measures of stability and dignity,” the White House said, adding that Hamas had long been an impediment to that.
It said the two leaders agreed to continue their efforts to advance a shared vision for a more peaceful, secure, prosperous, and stable Middle East region.
Also on Sunday, the head of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza denied claims by Israel that his hospital rejected fuel supply under pressure from Hamas, with the hospital’s director, Mohammad Abu Salamia, calling the charge a “lie and defamation”.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that Hamas, which rules Gaza, prevented the hospital from using 300 litres of fuel that Israeli soldiers had placed in containers next to the hospital on Saturday evening.
Israel offers to evacuate babies from ‘total war zone’ near Gaza hospital
Abu Salamia did not deny the reports about the containers but said the quantity would not be enough to run the hospital generators for “15 minutes”.
He also said his team was afraid of being shot at if they left the hospital to take the containers.
If Israel really wanted to supply fuel, it could have sent it in cooperation with the Red Cross or another international organisation, the hospital director said.
04:42
Palestinian death toll over 10,000 in Israel-Hamas war, with Gaza casualty figures in spotlight
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Richard Hecht said Israel’s COGAT authority, which is responsible for contacts with the Palestinians, had spoken to the hospital before the containers were dropped off.
“They haven’t taken the fuel yet, maybe Hamas prevented them from doing so,” he said.
Israel accuses Hamas of misusing medical facilities in the Gaza Strip for military purposes, an allegation Hamas denies.
Netanyahu rejects ceasefire calls, says battle to continue with ‘full force’
The World Health Organization said conditions in the hospital are catastrophic, with medical care barely possible due to fighting close by and lack of fuel.
With 700 beds, the hospital was the most important clinic complex in the Gaza Strip. The director said dozens of children are in critical condition and could die at any moment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on people in the US to see Israel’s war on Hamas as their war too.
“It’s not just our war, it’s your war too,” Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN. “It is the battle of civilisation against barbarism.”
If Israel does not win the war, the scourge will spread beyond the Middle East and then infect Europe and the US. “You’ll be next,” he said.
Netanyahu again rejected growing international criticism of the high number of civilians killed in Gaza in the war. “Israel is fighting according to international law,” he said. “The Israeli army is doing an exemplary job trying to minimise the civilian casualties.”
Every civilian life lost is a tragedy, he said, but blamed Hamas, saying it prevents people from leaving the war zone, “sometimes at gunpoint”.
Israel revises down death toll as deadly strikes hit Gaza hospitals, school
Hamas “fired on the safe zone and on the safe corridor that we enacted … to prevent Palestinians from leaving harm’s way. It puts rockets inside that schools, hospitals, it has tunnels below children’s beds,” he said.
The international community must not give moral support to evil, Netanyahu said.
Hamas fighters surged across the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Only four hostages have been released to date.
The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has since killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, around 40 per cent of them children, according to counts by health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Additional reporting by dpa
