Ambassadors and chiefs of missions from 18 countries joined to address the continued captivity of their citizens by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after terrorists kidnapped as many as 250 people from Israel on Oct. 7.
According to a readout from the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan connected with officials from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
The group repeated their nations’ demands that Hamas release the hostages and spoke on strategies for ending the conflict. Attendees discussed how they could speak more collectively and what could be done to increase pressure on Hamas to make a deal.
Sullivan also revealed that dialogue on a hostage deal continues between U.S. President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Plans for an Israeli-Saudi peace agreement continue to progress, according to Sullivan, as he visits the two countries this week to continue normalization discussions.