The families of the hostages who hold American citizenship will meet this evening at 10:00 p.m. (Israeli time) with President Joe Biden at the White House. This meeting, the third since the start of the conflict, comes a few hours before the planned meeting between Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, who will not participate in the interview with the families. “Our goal is to encourage the outgoing administration to work aggressively with the incoming administration to close this event and bring the hostages home. Do whatever is necessary,” Ronen Neutra, father of the Omer hostage.
The day before, the families met with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, their fourteenth meeting since the war began. They urged the administration to work with the Trump transition team “to devote all available resources to reaching an agreement before the end of President Biden’s term.” Sullivan reaffirmed the administration’s “unwavering commitment” to this issue.
“After meeting with Councilor Sullivan, we encouraged him to meet with his new counterpart and get to work. We’re seeing a lot of new appointments tonight, and it’s important that the teams start coming together,” Neutra stressed.
According to him, Trump has made it known that he does not wish to take office without the hostage issue being “resolved”, leaving three months to achieve this. An attempt by the families to meet with Trump failed due to “agenda constraints.”
Yesterday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Biden, thanking him for his support for Israel. Herzog stressed that while Israel is working to ensure “post-Gaza,” the release of the hostages remains a priority, a point Biden agreed with. Herzog concluded by discussing “many challenges related to Israel’s security and bilateral relations” ahead.
Belgium
