American families of Hamas hostages ‘optimistic’ cease-fire deal within reach

American families of hostages held by Hamas emerged from a meeting with President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday optimistic about progress on a deal to secure their loved ones’ release.

“We feel more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, referring to a weeklong cease-fire last year that allowed the release of more than 100 hostages. 

Dekel-Chen’s son Sagui, 35, has been in Hamas captivity since being kidnapped from Israel nearly 10 months ago, during the group's Oct. 7 terrorist attack.

The families of hostages were outspoken this week in their criticism of Netanyahu for failing to secure a cease-fire deal first laid out by Biden at the end of May. 

Biden met with Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Thursday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since the president visited Israel one week after the Oct. 7 attack.

Biden and Netanyahu have had an extremely strained relationship over the past two years — with Biden putting support behind mass protests against Netanyahu’s pursuit of judicial reforms in 2023, and expressing deep frustrations with the Israeli leader over the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s military campaign against Hamas. 

But families of hostages described the president and prime minister’s relationship as “solid” on Thursday and called for shifting the focus to pressuring Hamas to agree to the terms of a deal. The White House says the remaining disagreements over a multiphase cease-fire deal could be resolved within a week. 

The deal would put in place a 42-day pause in fighting and require Hamas to release, in phases, the estimated 115 hostages — alive and dead — with Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and a scale up of delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The deal calls for a second round of negotiations to take place half-way through the truce, to broker a permanent end to the war, the transition to a Palestinian civilian administration of Gaza and reconstruction. 

“We got an absolute commitment from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment now, to waste no time and to complete this deal, as it currently stands, with as little change as humanly possible,” Dekel-Chen told reporters, standing with other families outside the White House. 

“We are also very happy to hear from the president that Hamas now understands that the ball is now in its court. World pressure is such that it has nowhere to hide anymore.”

Biden and Netanyahu met for about 90 minutes before the families were brought in. Netanyahu is also holding separate meetings with Vice President Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, and former President Trump, the Republican nominee. 

Jonathan Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin is held hostage, said the meetings conveyed a consensus on getting the cease-fire deal done immediately. Trump, in an interview Thursday on Fox News, said he wants Netanyahu to "finish up" the war and "get the hostages back."

“We’ve got a rare moment now where the current president of the United States and anybody who might become president of the United States, both vice President Harris and Donald Trump, are all aligned saying this deal must get done now," Polin said.

"So anybody, on any side who makes the mistaken political calculus that there’s benefit in waiting, will find out that that logic is wrong. The deal must happen now."  

Harris, in remarks following her meeting with Netanyahu on Thursday, said she had a "frank and constructive" talk with the Israeli leader, adding that she told him it's time to get a cease-fire done now. 

Harris's remarks offered the clearest indication yet on how she will approach U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians, an issue that has divided the Democratic Party over criticisms that the Biden administration has held back consequences on Israel for violations of international humanitarian law.

“I’ve said it many times but it bears repeating, Israel has a right to defend itself, but how it does so matters,” Harris said, adding that she brought up with Netanyahu “the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.”

The meetings with Netanyahu came a day after the Israeli leader gave a controversial speech to a joint session of Congress that was boycotted by scores of Democrats, protested by hostage families, and marked by angry protests outside the Capitol against the Israeli leader whom they view as a war criminal and an obstacle to peace. 

The White House on Thursday pushed back against those characterizations, with White House national security communications adviser John Kirby saying the administration does not agree with allegations made by the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) that Netanyahu is a war criminal. 

“We don’t consider him a war criminal … we don’t find the ICC’s finding to be relevant or appropriate in this case. We don’t find him to be a war criminal. He’s an ally and a partner and a friend.”