Biden asks reporter if she can be 'hit on the head' in bewildering response to Israel hostage question

President Joe Biden chided a reporter who asked him if he could get a hostage deal completed befoe he leaves office, asking her if she could 'get hit in the head' by a camera.

Neria Kraus, a reporter for News Israel 13, tweeted a video of her interaction with the president, which came in the Oval Office Tuesday during his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

'Do you think you can get a hostage deal by the end of your term?,' she asked him, citing the 101 hostages still being held in Gaza.

Biden, referring to the dozen TV cameramen and photographers in the room with her, responded: 'Do you think that you can get hit in the head by the camera behind you?'

Biden then looked down at his notes and began his introductory remarks to Herzog. 

It's unclear how to interpret his response.

Biden, in the past, has said the release of the hostages is a top priority. But he only has a few months left in the White House before Trump takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025.

The two presidents were expected to discuss the war in Gaza during their meeting. 

The Biden administration also wants Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where 43,665 have died in the war; 103,076 have been injured; and thousands of civilians are now refugees.

The UN relief and works agency warned that already low levels of aid trickling into Gaza had dwindled further, with the situation in the north of the territory described as 'catastrophic.'  

Biden has been trying to garner a cease-fire deal in Gaza before President-elect Trump takes office.

While in Washington D.C., Herzog will also meet with Rep. Elise Stefanik -- whom Trump has chosen to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Trump ally and adviser.

Israel has already reached out to the president-elect. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had spoken with Trump three times since the Nov. 5th election.

Other than his snappy response, Biden didn't answer any other questions from reporters in the room and he let Herzog do the majority of the talking.

The Israeli president didn't mince words. He called Iran an 'evil empire' and said they are a 'major engine of antisemitism.'

He brought President Biden a gift, an artifact from the foot of Temple Mount in Jerusalem that has the word 'Joseph' on it.

President Isaac Herzog is the brother of Michael Herzog, who has been serving as Israel's Ambassador to the United States since November 2021.