Biden claims Netanyahu not doing enough to secure hostage-truce deal with Hamas

US President Joe Biden has claimed that his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was not doing enough to secure a hostage-truce deal with Hamas that has been in the works for months.

Biden made the remarks to reporters on Monday (Sep 2) while heading into the Situation Room to convene a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden said the two sides were "very close" to securing a deal,however, upon being pressed by reporters to whether Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a deal, Biden responded: “No.”

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This is not the first instance when Biden has called out Netanyahu for stalling the deal. During a phone call earlier this month, Biden told Netanyahu to"stop bullshi**ing" him. At the end of the conversation, Biden alsoreportedly said, “Don’t take the president for granted."

The truce and hostage talks have been ongoing for months but no breakthrough has been made so far. US,alongside Qatar and Egypt, has been attempting to broker the deal but Netanyahu has stuck with his demands regarding the Philadelphi Corridor -- a narrow 14.5-km-long stretch of land along Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

Watch |Israel-Hamas War: Protests in Israel after Hostages' Killing

What does Netanyahu want?

Netanyahu is in favour ofmaintaining Israeli troops in the corridorfor the six-week first phase of the ceasefire deal to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza. However, the security establishment, led by Defence MinisterYoav Gallanthasopposed the move, arguing that the new demand could blow up the talks and leave hostages at the mercy of Hamas militants.

“The significance of this is that Hamas won’t agree to it, so there won’t be an agreement and there won’t be any hostages released,” Gallant told Netanyahu, according to the transcript of a cabinet meeting leaked in media.

Despite Gallant's opposition, a series of maps, drawn up by the IDF to keep troops in the Philadelphi Corridor has been approved by the cabinet.

The deal and its future have further plunged into jeopardy after bodies of six Israeli hostages were recovered from a tunnel in the Gazan city of Rafah on Sunday (Sep 1). The hostages were killed before they could be rescued,according to the Israeli military.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23),Ori Danino (25), Eden Yerushalmi (24), Almog Sarusi (27), Alexander Lobanov (33) and Carmel Gat (40) have been identified as the hostages killed by Hamas.

Protests have swelled in different regions of Israel with people demanding Netanyahu to strike a deal and bring the hostages back home safely.

(With inputs from agencies)