US President Joe Biden said on Monday that any discussions about a Gaza ceasefire could only take place if Hamas frees all hostages seized from Israel in its October 7 attack.

“We should have those hostages released and then we can talk,” Biden said at a White House event when asked if he would support a “hostages-for-ceasefire” deal.

Biden then apologized for having to leave the event to promote his economic program ahead of next year’s election, saying he had to go to the White House Situation Room for “another issue I have to deal with.”

His comments came shortly after Hamas said they had freed two more women hostages abducted from Israel.

American mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan were freed on Friday.

Israel on Monday increased the number of confirmed hostages to 222 people seized when Hamas gunmen crossed the border and attacked kibbutz communities, towns and military bases in southern Israel.

Israeli officials say the Hamas militants killed 1,400 people in the nation’s worst-ever attack.

Israel hit back with a blistering bombing campaign which Gaza’s Hamas-run health authority says has now killed more than 5,000 people.

Biden also touched on a call he had with Pope Francis on Sunday about the Israel-Hamas conflict and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“The pope and I are on the same page, he was very very, very interested in what we were doing,” Biden said.

Biden said he had “laid out to him what the game plan was” regarding US support for Israel.

“The pope was across the board supportive,” he added.

 Israel will not hold off on a possible ground invasion of Gaza over the issue of captives being held there, Israel’s energy minister told German tabloid newspaper Bild.

Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages in cross-border assault on Oct. 7.

In an interview published on Tuesday, energy minister Israel Katz said everything would be done to bring the hostages home. “But that cannot hinder our actions including the ground offensive, if we decide on it,” he was quoted as saying.

“Hamas wants us to deal with the captives and wants the military to not go in to eliminate their infrastructure. That will not happen,” Katz added.

The armed wing of Hamas said on Monday it had released two more female civilian captives on health grounds in response to Egyptian-Qatari mediation efforts.

 The Canadian government said on Monday it detected a China-linked “Spamouflage” campaign that involved bots posting disinformation and propaganda on the social media accounts of members of parliament, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Spamouflage campaign, using networks of new and hijacked social media accounts to post bulk messages, took place in August and September, and targeted dozens of MPs from across the political spectrum, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The messages included accusations against the MPs of criminal and ethical violations, a claim that Hawaiian wildfires were caused by a secret U.S. military “weather weapon,” and deepfake videos.

Thousands of such comments in English and French were posted on MPs’ Facebook and X accounts, and the government worked with the platforms to get the bot networks removed.

“This campaign could discourage and make it difficult for MPs to carry out their duties and may dissuade MPs and diaspora communities in Canada from speaking out on issues which concern them,” said a foreign ministry report about the incident.

China-Canada relations turned icy in late 2018 when Canadian police detained a Chinese telecommunications executive. Shortly after, Beijing arrested two Canadians on spying charges. All three have since been released.

Ottawa has also accused Beijing of trying to interfere in its affairs through various schemes, including illegal police stations and the targeting of lawmakers. China has strongly denied all such allegations.

In September, the Trudeau government announced an independent public inquiry into allegations of attempted foreign meddling by China, Russia and others.