It seems that U.S. President Joe Biden's slips of the tongue are becoming more frequent. Social media was abuzz in recent hours with a video showing a new gaffe from Biden as he commented on Hamas's response to the proposed agreement for the release of hostages held in Gaza. Biden said, "There is some movement, and I don’t wanna, I don't wanna, let me choose my words – there’s some movement. There’s been a response from the opposition, but…". The reporter interjected, "Hamas?", to which Biden replied, "Yes, I’m sorry, Hamas." He then continued, "It seems that this has been somewhat exaggerated; there are ongoing negotiations now."
Notably, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced on Tuesday during a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha that "a response from Hamas regarding the framework agreement has been received, which contains comments and is overall positive." Al Thani added that he was "optimistic," but refused to discuss Hamas's response in detail due to "sensitive circumstances."
For his part, Blinken confirmed that he would discuss the proposal in Israel on Wednesday. Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that the intelligence agency "Mossad" is studying Hamas's response to the proposed ceasefire. Netanyahu's office stated in a release that "the Qatari mediator informed Mossad of Hamas's response. The officials involved in the negotiations are carefully assessing the details of this response."
