Relatives of the six remaining Israeli-American hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza met with several of US President Joe Biden's top national security advisers at the White House on Thursday.
Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old reservist Itay Chen, who has been missing since October 7, told CNN that the conversation was “informative” and that officials gave the families the “broad strokes” of the efforts in course to ensure the safety of captives. release. He declined to share those details.
Among the officials who attended the meeting were National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, White House Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk and Deputy National Security Advisor Jen Daskal, according to a White House official. .
The official said the administration is “committed to making an unwavering effort to bring family members home,” even as frustration mounts.
“Simply put, it's been 104 days and that's disappointing and frustrating,” Chen said. “Where is justice? And we want more dead American citizens? What is the administration doing about this?”
Some context: Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, four American hostages have been freed before negotiations stalled. Talks between Israel and Hamas, with the United States, Qatar and Egypt playing mediation roles, continue, but there has been no significant progress recently, according to two US officials.
