Biden will meet with families of Americans taken hostage
The families of American hostages captured by Hamas are invited to the White House on Wednesday, after President Joe Biden scheduled the first in-person meeting since the hostages were taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
So far, it’s unclear exactly how many families will make the trip to meet with the president, but some could choose to attend virtually, NBC News reported.
The families chatted with Biden via Zoom during a previous meeting, and have also met with several other government officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The news of Wednesday’s meeting comes just one day after reports surfaced of family members being denied an invitation to the White House Hanukkah reception on Monday night.
Ruby Chen, a New York City native whose 19-year-old son Itay went missing on Oct. 7, told CNN that several families of American hostages had reached out to the White House asking to attend, but were not invited.
Biden spoke during the event Monday, praising the work his administration is doing to try to bring home the remaining hostages and get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We’ve gotten more than 100 hostages out and we’re not going to stop till we get every one of them home,” Biden said.
But some family members of those missing have grown increasingly anxious from a seeming lack of progress in negotiations, according to CNN.
They’ve asked the White House to consider the possibility of a side deal with Hamas, or removing the Israeli government from negotiations altogether, due to what they feel is a lack of support in getting the Americans home.
Seven Americans remain unaccounted for after Hamas’ surprise air, sea and land terrorist attack into Israeli towns, where the group killed about 1,200 Israelis — mostly civilians — and took more than 240 people hostage.
Four Americans, including a 4-year-old girl, were released as part of a U.S.-negotiated cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza that was brokered with the assistance of Qatar and Egypt.
“We’re not going to stop until every hostage is returned home,” Biden told donors in Washington on Tuesday, saying the U.S. commitment to Israel is “unshakable.”
