President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss the prospect of a possible ceasefire to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, while reaffirming his support for new Israeli attacks on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. warning, officials said.
The call was intended to pave the way for Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who left for Washington early Sunday. his recent trip to the middle east Aiming to reduce the scale of the war in Gaza. Blinken travels to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Egyptian and Qatari officials who have acted as intermediaries for Hamas in ceasefire and hostage negotiations, which remain deadlocked.
Blinken will also stop in Jordan and Israel after attending the World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh, the State Department announced during Sunday’s flight. The secretary of state has been playing a key role in the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a truce, increase humanitarian aid and secure the release of more than 100 hostages believed to be still in Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terror attack.
“Continuing to push for a temporary ceasefire will be Secretary Blinken’s top priority,” White House national security spokesman John F. Kirby said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We hope it will last about six weeks. It will allow all the hostages to escape and, of course, make it easier for aid to get into Gaza, especially the north.”
He has also been leading discussions about what will happen after the war ends. During his stay in Saudi Arabia, Blinken is expected to hold talks with Arab and European officials to discuss plans to rebuild Gaza, even as Israel continues to implement reconstruction plans, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. It is waging war there but has yet to achieve its elusive — and perhaps impossible — goal of completely wiping out Hamas.
An administration official said about three-quarters of Biden’s nearly hour-long call with Netanyahu focused on a possible ceasefire and hostage deal. U.S. officials say Israel has accepted the U.S.-drafted plan and blame Hamas for the failure to reach a deal, which they view as unconstructive. During the call, the president agreed that Hamas still had a responsibility to accept the latest offer, the official said.
The two leaders also discussed the video Hamas released last week of hostages, including two with U.S. citizenship. U.S. officials have puzzled over why Hamas released the videos more than six months after the hostage-taking, although the goal may have been to increase Israeli public pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to make more concessions. A deal was struck so that he could get the hostages home.
Three weeks later, the president called Mr Netanyahu and Mr Biden told the prime minister: He would reconsider his support for Israel’s war Unless the country does more to facilitate the delivery of food and other supplies to Gaza and limit civilian casualties. Humanitarian aid to Gaza has increased significantly since then, and Biden advisers praised Israel for responding to the president’s requests, even as they acknowledged more aid was still needed.
Israel has Withdrawal of some troops from southern Gaza But it said it was still planning a large-scale attack on Rafah, where about one million Palestinians have taken refuge.Biden administration officials expressed concern about the possible action, and Israeli officials said they would consider the feedback and consult further with their U.S. counterparts
The White House said in a statement after the call that Biden “reaffirmed his clear position” on any Rafah operation and reviewed “ongoing negotiations to secure the release of hostages and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” with the prime minister.
“The President and Prime Minister also discussed increasing the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, including preparations to open new northern crossings starting this week,” the statement said. “The President emphasized the need for full coordination with humanitarian organizations to maintain and strengthen this progress.”
As protests sweep across U.S. college campuses, some critics of Netanyahu’s government stressed on Sunday that the changes it has made since Biden issued his threats do not go far enough.
“What Netanyahu’s right-wing, extremist and racist government is currently doing is unprecedented in the history of modern warfare,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont democratic socialist and member of the Democratic caucus, said in 2019 said on the “State of the Union” program in 2016. CNN. “In the past six and a half months, they have killed 33,000 Palestinians and injured 77,000, two-thirds of them women and children.”
The White House statement made only passing reference to the recent conflict between Israel and Iran, saying only that Biden “reaffirmed his strong commitment to Israel’s security following his successful defense against an unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack earlier this month.” .
Israeli and U.S. forces, with help from European and Arab allies, shot down nearly all the planes More than 300 missiles and drones Earlier this month, Iran fired a missile at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s killing of a senior Iranian military officer.Israel heeded Biden’s plea for restraint and only fired back symbolic counterattackboth sides expressed a desire to avoid further escalation.
With the immediate threat of a wider war appearing to recede, Biden and his team are likely to turn their attention back to Gaza. Under the U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, Israel would cease hostilities for six weeks and release hundreds of Palestinians held in its prisons in exchange for Hamas releasing 40 hostages, mostly women, elderly men and those in poor health. Good hostage. Later stages of the deal would extend the ceasefire and lead to the release of more hostages.
U.S. officials said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is hiding in Gaza, blocked an agreement. Israel presented a new counterproposal on Friday, raising the prospect of a more lasting end to hostilities.Hamas is demanding a permanent end to the war as part of any deal, and the group said on Saturday it had proposal received and is considering it.
Mr Kirby expressed cautious optimism that progress was still possible.
“Hamas has not completely rejected it. They are considering the proposal,” he said. “If we can do that, then you can enjoy six weeks of calm. It gives you six weeks of no fighting, including no fighting for Rafah, and we hope that after six weeks of a temporary ceasefire, we might be able to take a more permanent measures.”
Edward Wong Contributed reporting from Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s plane.
