Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq on Sunday blamed Israel and the Biden administration for the recent deaths of six hostages, claiming Israel was unwilling to reach a deal and the United States had continued to support "the war of genocide" due to the country's "bias" for Israel.
The bodies of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Ori Danino were found in the Gaza Strip. The IDF retrieved the bodies of the hostages from a tunnel under the city of Rafah in Gaza.
They were likely murdered by Hamas shortly before the IDF got to them in Rafah, IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Sunday. Despite this, al-Rishq claimed that it had been an Israeli airstrike, utilizing American weaponry, which killed the six hostages.
"President Biden, if he is keen on saving their lives, must stop supporting this enemy with money and weapons and pressure the occupation to end its aggression immediately," the Hamas official claimed. "The one who will pay the price for these brutal crimes and the war of genocide against our people for eleven months is Netanyahu and his extremist government and all the supporters of this aggression."
One of the hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, held American citizenship, and his family has addressed the Biden administration and world leaders multiple times in attempts to secure his release.
Claims Israel is rejecting hostage deals
Al-Rishq claimed that the war against Hamas, which the terror group started by invading southern Israel on October 7 and murdering over 1200 people, had resulted in the deaths and wounding of 150,000 people in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Rishq's figure cannot be independently verified, but Hamas counts terrorists in its toll of those killed and wounded in Gaza. The terror organization has also been accused of inflating the figure.
"Hamas was more concerned than Biden about the lives of its prisoners, which is why it agreed to his proposal and the Security Council resolution, while Netanyahu rejected them," al-Rishq claimed, adding Biden's "administration surrendered to Netanyahu's conditions, which aimed to obstruct reaching an agreement, in order to preserve his authority."