The Miran Case: Is There a Solution? A Year After the War in Gaza Revisited by United States Secretary of State Antonio J. Biden
More than five weeks ago, on Oct. 7, my brother-in-law Omri Miran was yanked away from his wife, my sister Lishay, and their two beautiful daughters, Roni and Alma, and kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The four of them had been held captive together at gunpoint by Hamas terrorists and their accomplices for hours; the family witnessed their community burn and their neighbors executed. And then they were separated: Omri was taken captive to the Gaza Strip, and Lishay, Roni and Alma were left behind, waiting for a similar fate or worse before Israel Defense Forces soldiers eventually rescued them.
For the past 40 days, there has not been any information about Omri’s status, whether or not he is alive or dead, and whether or not she will ever be able to say “I love you” again. She lives in a state of limbo.
In a conflict where emotions run high, the release of hostages can be a potent symbol of good will and a step toward envisioning the day after the war, when Hamas and its accomplices can no longer be allowed to rule the enclave.
A two-state solution has been emphasized by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Vice President Joe Biden in recent days. The establishment of a Palestinian state has been a goal of the U.S. in the past but has not been accomplished by the current administration. The last major push was made by John Kerry when he was secretary of state.
“I can tell you, I don’t think it ultimately ends until there’s a two-state solution,” Mr. Biden said at a news conference on an estate south of San Francisco after his summit with Xi Jinping, China’s leader.
Mr. Biden said he did not have a specific idea of when to tell Israel it should halt its war in Gaza. He said the fighting would end once Hamas could no longer do “horrific things” to Israelis. He said that Hamas has weapons and technology under hospitals in Gaza.
In recent days, US officials have been saying that Hamas maintains a compound underneath the Al-Shifa Hospital, despite the presence of civilian patients and doctors. Israeli officials have said that the hospital sits atop a major hub of Hamas’s tunnel network, and that the terrorist group stockpiles weapons in the area.
The Gaza health ministry said that 40% of the people killed in the strikes were children.
Israeli forces were allowing doctors and nurses to escape danger at Al-ShiFA, which was a different situation than what had been happening before, said Mr. Biden.
Israeli officials have said Hamas has at least 100 women and children and should release them all, the official said. The Israeli negotiators are discussing a plan for Israel to pause its strikes for three days to allow for the release of hostages in batches.
Mr. Biden said he was “mildly hopeful” that some hostages would be released, but added he did not know what had occurred during talks in the last four hours.
The United States had been working closely with a country in Asia to try and secure the release of hostages.