Biden to meet this week with families of American hostages in Gaza

By MJ Lee, CNN

(CNN) — President Joe Biden is expected to meet this week with the families of Americans believed to be held hostage in Gaza.

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the families in a meeting Monday afternoon that the president would meet with them later this week, a source familiar told CNN.

Biden is also expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, a US official said, though the date of the meeting has been fluid as the US president recovers from Covid-19. The president has been isolating at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home since his diagnosis last week. He’s set to return to the White House Tuesday afternoon.

There are eight dual-American citizens believed to be still captive in Gaza, three of whom have been confirmed dead. The Biden administration has not shared information about the well-being or whereabouts of the five that may still be alive.

Biden’s meetings this week with the families of the hostages and Netanyahu comes as a ceasefire and hostages release proposal that the president has been pushing for months has yet to be finalized.

Biden, calling into Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign headquarters, said Monday that it’s “critically important” the US maintain its alliances, push for peace and bring hostages home, suggesting the administration may be close to doing so.

“I’ve been working very closely with the Israelis and with the Palestinians to try to work out how we can get the Gaza war to end and the Middle East peace and get all those hostages home. I think we’re on a verge of being able to do that,” the president said.

A State Department spokesperson reiterated Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s assessment that a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “inside the 10 yard line,” but that unresolved issues remain.

“We continue discussions with the other mediators and with the government of Israel to try to reach a resolution, but we don’t have that yet, and I don’t have any kind of forecast about when we might come to one,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing Monday.

Netanyahu is traveling to Washington, DC, to address Congress – along with meeting with Biden and Harris – but Miller would not say whether or not a deal might happen by then.

CNN’s Michael Conte and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

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