By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he is determined to broker an end to Israel's ongoing war on the besieged Gaza Strip, where over 38,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Addressing reporters at the end of NATO's three-day leader-level summit, Biden said both Israel and Hamas have agreed to what he called a deal "framework" with negotiators currently working to finalize the details.
"These are difficult, complex issues. There's still gaps to close. We're making progress. The trend is positive," he said at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where he held a nearly hour-long press conference. "And I'm determined to get this deal done and bring an end to this war, which should end now."
Israel has waged a devastating offensive across the Gaza Strip for over nine months following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people. About 250 others were taken back to the coastal enclave as hostages.
Over 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, with much of the territory of 2.3 million people reduced to ruins. Most of the civilian population has been displaced and is at imminent risk of famine as Israel maintains stringent restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
The US attempted to craft a workaround solution to the aid delivery problem by building a temporary pier on the Gaza coast. Construction was finished on May 17, but National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced Thursday that all operations would cease and the pier would be dismantled after a series of mishaps and an ongoing inability to get aid to the starving Palestinians in dire need.
“I do anticipate that in relatively short order, we will wind down pier operations,” Sullivan told reporters at the NATO summit. "The real issue right now is not about getting aid into Gaza. It's about getting aid around Gaza effectively."
The World Food Program, the principal US partner that worked to facilitate deliveries from the site, paused its operations following a deadly Israeli hostage rescue operation in June in which two of the organization’s warehouses were struck by rockets.
Biden said he is "disappointed" by the pier's failure, saying he was "hopeful that would be more successful."
Since the pier became operational on May 17, more than 8,100 metric tons, or approximately 20 million pounds, of humanitarian aid has been delivered from the facility to a marshaling area where it was intended to be collected by humanitarian organizations for onward delivery and distribution, according to the Pentagon.
Much of that aid is now likely to be rounded up and taken away due to failures in distribution.
Biden said there are "a lot of things" he wishes he "had been able to convince the Israelis to do" but said there is a vital opportunity to now "end this war," alluding to the cease-fire negotiations.
"Doesn't mean walk away from going after Sinwar and Hamas, and if you notice, you know better than most, there is a growing dissatisfaction in the West Bank from the Palestinians about Hamas. Hamas is not popular now," he said, referring to Hamas' senior official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.