Final proposal: American-Israeli hostage death in Gaza intensifies US push for prisoner exchange deal

Report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

After 11 months of war in Gaza, the Israeli military has recovered the bodies of six hostages from Hamas tunnels, but they returned in coffins. 

Israel claims that the hostages were killed at close range by Hamas, but Hamas denies this narrative, confirming that they were killed by Israeli shelling.

While the exact circumstances surrounding their deaths remain unclear, one name has drawn particular attention: Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

The youngest of the hostages was not only an Israeli citizen but also a US national, which raised questions about the limits of American protection over its citizens abroad—especially in the tunnels beneath Gaza.

From the calls of Hersh's mother and the depths of Hamas' underground network to the halls of the White House, where US President Joe Biden met his national security team and Vice President Kamala Harris to outline a final strategy on the issue of the hostages. 

Biden said that a deal was very close and final, but he did not believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing enough to secure such an agreement.

According to Axios, Biden plans to present a new and final proposal for a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan conveyed this to the families of the seven American hostages still held in Gaza. 

All these diplomatic efforts that the US administration is seeking under Democratic leadership were met with Republican discontent, holding Biden and his administration responsible for the outcome of the situation. 

The reason they blamed Biden was not because of the lack of efforts to make the ceasefire negotiations successful, on the contrary, because the Biden administration did not provide strong and sufficient support to Israel.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton expressed this stance, accusing the Biden administration of "continuing to encourage Hamas and increase its boldness by calling for a ceasefire."