As negotiations for a cease-fire broke down on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a cease-fire agreement with Hamas.
Hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a Middle East tour intended to forge an agreement as tensions in the area grow, the leaders of the US and Israel held talks.
In a statement regarding X, Biden stated that he “made clear that we must bring the ceasefire and hostage release deal to closure and discussed upcoming talks in Cairo to remove any remaining obstacles.”
Amid Tehran’s warnings of retaliation over the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran, he also provided Netanyahu with an update on “US efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats from Iran and its proxy terrorist groups.”
In a second statement, the White House claimed that the US president “stressed the urgency” of coming to an agreement.
The statement said that Vice President Kamala Harris, who succeeded Biden as the Democratic contender for president to take on Republican Donald Trump in November’s US election, participated in the conversation as well.
Biden was supposed to press Netanyahu to be more accommodating during the negotiations, which are being mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, according to earlier reports from the news site Axios.
The statement stated that the US president would prioritize pressing Israel to keep control of the border between Gaza and Egypt, which Israeli soldiers took from Hamas.
According to Israel, Hamas uses tunnels to import weaponry.
Since the Hamas strikes on October 7, Biden has supported Israel, giving it massive military help with the stated objective of eliminating the Palestinian militant group, according to Netanyahu.
However, there has been tension between US and Israeli officials, with Biden urging Israel to lower the number of civilian deaths.
An AFP count based on Israeli official numbers indicates that 1,199 persons died as a result of the October 7 strike on southern Israel, the majority of them civilians.
According to the health ministry of the Hamas-run enclave, 40,223 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s retaliatory military attack. Details regarding civilian and terrorist casualties are not provided. Most of the dead, according to the UN rights office, are women and children.
In addition, 251 captives were taken by Palestinian terrorists; 105 of whom are still in Gaza, 34 of whom the military claims are dead.
