Biden stresses urgency of Gaza cease-fire, hostage deal in meeting with Netanyahu

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden emphasized the need to close remaining gaps and finalize a Gaza cease-fire and hostage deal during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said Thursday.

During the meeting at the presidential mansion, the two leaders discussed developments in Gaza and ongoing negotiations on the cease-fire and hostage release deal in detail, it said in a statement.

"President Biden expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza.”

Biden "also raised the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the need to remove any obstacles to the flow of aid and restoring basic services for those in need, and the critical importance of protecting civilian lives during military operations,” it added.

"President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis," said the statement.

The White House visit is Netanyahu's first since Biden assumed office in 2021 amid repeated rifts between the allies. But international pressure for a cease-fire to end the bloodshed and destruction in Gaza has continued to mount as the death toll rapidly approaches 40,000.

The Israeli prime minister also met with Vice President Kamala Harris, during which she said she expressed concern about the situation in the Gaza Strip.

"I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity," Harris told reporters after the closed-door meeting with Netanyahu.

The meeting came a day after Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress, where he claimed that the war in Gaza has "one of the lowest ratios of combatants to non-combatant casualties in the history of urban warfare."

Meanwhile, the war has badly dragged on Biden's favorability among Democrats, and if he is able to secure a cease-fire, that would be a boon for Harris as she mounts her own White House bid after the president chose to step aside and endorsed her to succeed him.