US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he believes that the deal with Hamas to free the hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip will happen but did not offer anything specific. However, Hamas has accused Biden of backing the Israeli raid in the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and said his administration is complicit in the killing of innocent civilians along with Israel. This could complicate a deal to secure the release of hostages.
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“I’ve been talking with people involved every single day. I believe it’s going to happen but I don’t want to get into detail,” Biden said.
Hamas, however, said that the US gave the green signal to the Israeli army to commit “a massacre” by attacking the hospital. Hamas was referring to comments made by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby who told reporters that al-Shifa hospital is used by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad to operate a “command and control node”.
“We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Shifa and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” he said.
“We have information that confirms that Hamas is using that particular hospital for a command and control node and probably storage of equipment, weapons… That is a war crime,” Kirby told reporters.
“We hold the occupation (Israel) and President Biden wholly responsible for the assault on the Al-Shifa medical complex,” Hamas said in a statement.
“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation’s false claim that the resistance is using the Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians,” Hamas said.
The raid in Al Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, could complicate the hostage release as Hamas thinks the US backed Israel in its raid on Al Shifa after pleading with Israel to protect the hospital.
Israeli army officials said they have entered the medical centre “with medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians being used by Hamas as human shields.”
“We call upon all Hamas terrorists present in the hospital to surrender,” the IDF said.
Nine Americans and a person with permanent US residency are among an estimated 240 people taken hostage by Hamas fighters last month when they crossed the border to stage the deadliest attack in Israeli history.
Biden on Monday (local time) said the “hospital must be protected”.
The White House reiterated the President’s plea on Wednesday. “As we’ve said, we do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don’t want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire. Hospitals and patients must be protected,” a White House spokesperson said.
However, it remains unclear if the raid will help the US and Israel in Doha where officials from these two sides have been urged to hold discussions with Hamas by
Qatar to secure the release of the hostages. On Tuesday, Qatar again urged Israel and Hamas to take up its offer to mediate to reach a deal.
When the US President was asked if he had a message for the families of those being held by the Palestinian militant group, he replied: “Hang in there. We’re coming.”
The October 7 Hamas attack left around 1,200 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to the latest official Israeli figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says Israel’s relentless assault in retaliation has killed more than 11,300 people, also mostly civilians, including thousands of children.
(with inputs from AFP)