Group of 18 countries call on Hamas to immediately release hostages, accept deal

A group of 18 countries on Thursday called on Hamas to immediately release the hostages they have held since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and accept the ceasefire agreement on the table.

“We strongly support the ongoing mediation efforts in order to bring our people home. We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages, and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region,” the countries said in a joint statement.

A senior Biden administration official said efforts to reach an agreement on releasing a similar statement were unsuccessful earlier.

But Thursday’s statement was an “extraordinary display of unanimity by so many leaders around the world,” the official told reporters.

The countries that signed the statement are Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US.

“There’s a deal on the table; it meets nearly all of the demands that Hamas has had… and what they need to do is release this vulnerable category of hostages to get things moving,” the senior administration official said.

The official did say that there were “some indications” that there may be an avenue for a deal, “but I’m not totally confident.”

As for the current proposal, he said it would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza as well as allow the unrestricted return of Palestinians to northern Gaza.

The official placed the blame squarely on Hamas and its leader, Yahya Sinwar when asked if Israel and the Netanyahu government were blocking any potential deal. “If I was answering your question six weeks ago, I might have a different answer,” the official said. But he added that Israel was on board with the current proposal and the most recent offer to Hamas. However, the response from inside Gaza was “totally unconstructive.”

The official revealed that Hamas has since sent signals that it was not completely opposed to the current ceasefire deal.