Biden dismisses journalist’s question on reaching deal for Gaza captives

As US president’s term ends, repeated attempts to secure a ceasefire and end Israel’s war have not yielded results.

United States President Joe Biden avoided answering a question about whether he had any hope of reaching a ceasefire and bringing back Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip before the end of his term.

“Do you think you can keep from getting hit in the head by a camera behind you?” the outgoing president said at the White House on Tuesday after an Israeli journalist asked whether a deal might be possible by January.

Biden made the comment, according to a White House transcript, at the start of a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog as they were surrounded in the Oval Office by reporters and cameras.

Neria Kraus, the journalist who asked the question and posted a video on social media platform X, wrote that “the political reality is such that President Biden, who’s committed to bring the hostages home, was not able to give me a clear answer about this very critical question regarding getting a hostage deal by the end of his term”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been repeatedly blamed – including from within Israel – for sabotaging efforts to put an end to the war as he seeks to keep his far-right government in power. He created a furor in the country after sacking his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.