President Biden and 17 other world leaders issued a statement Thursday calling on Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, arguing that doing so would bring about a prolonged ceasefire in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. .
“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for more than 200 days. They include our own citizens,” the leaders wrote. “The fate of the hostages and civilian population in Gaza, who are protected by international law, is an international concern.”
“We emphasize that the agreement on the table to release the hostages would bring about an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, which would facilitate a wave of necessary additional humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza and lead to a credible end to hostilities,” they said. continuous. “Gaza residents could return to their homes and lands with advance preparations to ensure shelter and humanitarian supplies.”
The declaration was signed by Biden, as well as the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom. All countries have citizens detained or missing in Gaza following Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel last October, a senior administration official said.
“We strongly support ongoing mediation efforts in order to bring our people home,” the leaders said in the statement. “We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages and let us bring this crisis to an end so that, collectively, we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region.”
A senior administration official, on a conference call with reporters, said the set of leaders was “quite extraordinary,” noting that a previous effort to gain buy-in to a similar declaration was unsuccessful.
The statement had been in the works for a few weeks, the official said, but was issued a day after Hamas released a video showing Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American man who was among those captured by the militant group during the surprise attack it launched. the war last fall. It was unclear when the video was taken.
The senior administration official said the Biden administration is in “regular contact” with Goldberg-Polin’s family and that removing the hostages is a “daily and hourly focus of ours.”
Biden met Wednesday at the White House with Abigail Mor Edan, a four-year-old girl who was taken hostage and released in November along with several others.
The White House has been advocating for weeks for a ceasefire in Gaza that would allow the release of hostages still being held there and allow for additional humanitarian aid to be ramped up in the area.
Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages unless Israel ends the war that has killed thousands of Palestinians, sparking a wave of protests on U.S. college campuses in recent days.
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