President Biden will come face-to-face with family members of American hostages held by Hamas at the White House Wednesday, an administration official confirmed to The Post.
The meeting will mark the first known in-person sitdown between the commander-in-chief and families whose relatives were kidnapped by the terror group during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Biden has talked to some of the hostages’ family members via Zoom and other White House officials — most notably national security adviser Jake Sullivan — have been in contact with them as well.
Several of the families had sought admission to the White House’s Hanukkah reception Monday night, but were not invited, CNN reported.
During the event, which was attended by more than 800 guests including Holocaust survivors, Biden addressed the hostage situation, vowing to do everything to “get every one of them home.”
There are believed to be eight American citizens or legal permanent residents still held captive by jihadists in the Gaza Strip. Four more — three women as well as 4-year-old Abigail Edan — have been released since mid-October.
“There’s a whole range of things going on now that are really very, very difficult,” Biden stressed Monday. “We’ve gotten more than 100 hostages out and we’re not going to stop ’til we get every one of them home.”
Israel and Hamas agreed to a week-long pause in the fighting late last month to allow the release of dozens of hostages, only for battle to resume with Palestinian terror attacks Dec. 1.
Families of US hostages have been in Washington, DC all week to push the US and Israeli governments to take any steps possible to secure their relatives’ release.
Since the outbreak of the war, Biden has affirmed US support for Israel and has pressed Congress to marshal more aid to the Jewish state.
Biden re-upped his commitment Monday night to “continue to provide military assistance to Israel until they get rid of Hamas.”
However, the president also warned the Netanyahu government that “they have to be careful.”
“The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight,” Biden added. “We can’t let that happen.”