“We will get them all out.” Biden promises freed Americans.
President Joe Biden spoke with Judith and Natalie Raanan, who were held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 13 days.
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said Monday he would not consider supporting a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war until all hostages kidnapped by Hamas are released.
“We should release these hostages and then we can talk,” Biden told reporters when asked about the possibility of a ceasefire in exchange for Hamas releasing about 200 hostages, including Americans, believed to be in the Gaza Strip .
Some liberal Democrats in Congress have called on Biden – who has stood in complete solidarity with Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on the US ally – to stop providing humanitarian aid amid rising Palestinian casualties in Gaza and warfare has made it more difficult to facilitate a ceasefire agreement.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller appeared to reject the idea of a ceasefire early Monday, arguing it would harm Israel’s ability to defend itself in the face of ongoing terrorist threats.
“Any ceasefire would give Hamas the opportunity to rest, rearm and prepare for further terrorist attacks against Israel,” Miller said. “You can clearly understand why this is an intolerable situation for Israel, because it would be an intolerable situation for any country that has suffered such a brutal terrorist attack.”
Hamas released two more hostages, both Israeli women, on Monday after releasing two Americans, a mother and a daughter, on Friday.
Biden said he planned to go to the White House situation room about the Middle East conflict, but did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has ordered additional troops to the Middle East as the Biden administration seeks to stop Iran and Hezbollah from expanding the Israel-Hamas war.
John Kirby, a White House spokesman for national security affairs, said the U.S. “has sent additional forces to the region and will deploy additional troops in the coming days and weeks to try to prevent actions that could lead to an expansion or intensification lead to this conflict.”
The moves come after Kirby said the US had noted a “surge” in missile and drone attacks by Iran-backed proxy groups against military bases housing US personnel in Iraq and Syria.
Kirby declined to specify what the additional military presence would accomplish. The Pentagon has already deployed two carrier strike groups to the region.
“We are deeply concerned about the possibility of a significant escalation of these attacks,” Kirby said, adding that Biden had directed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to take steps to ensure the U.S. “adopts an appropriate posture.”
Kirby said the U.S. knows that Iran is “closely monitoring” these events and “in some cases is actively facilitating these attacks” and encouraging others to exploit the conflict for their “own good.”
“We know that Iran’s goal is to maintain a level of denial here. “We won’t allow them to do that,” he said.
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