Biden and 17 other world leaders call for ‘immediate release’ of hostages held by Hamas

President Joe Biden and a group of 17 other heads of state and government whose citizens are being held hostage by Hamas are calling for the hostages’ “immediate release” and urging the militant group to accept a deal that has been pending for some time now in a joint statement released on Thursday.

The statement — which was released simultaneously by the governments of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the UK — states that the “fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza who are protected under international law is of international concern”.

“We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities,” it reads.

The leaders’ statement also stresses that Gaza residents “would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions”.

The statement asked that Hamas “let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region”.

A senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters on the announcement called the “collection of leaders” who have collaborated on the joint statement “quite extraordinary” and said that the reason the leaders were able to agree unanimously on the wording of the statement was “largely because of the current situation with the hostages”.

The leaders’ joint statement comes a day after Hamas released a proof-of-life video showing one of