WASHINGTON – U.S. President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the White House said, as U.S. officials agreed to secure hostages in Gaza and reach a cease-fire agreement before Biden leaves office on January 20. He announced that he was in a hurry to do so.
The White House said in a statement after the two leaders’ phone call that Biden and Netanyahu discussed ongoing efforts to reach an agreement to halt fighting in the Palestinian enclave and release remaining hostages. Announced.
Mr. Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages with increased humanitarian assistance made possible by an agreed-upon cessation of fighting.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement that he updated Biden on progress and the mission he has given to a top-level security delegation currently in Doha to advance the hostage deal.
According to the White House, the two leaders also discussed “the fundamentally changed regional situation following the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” show early Sunday that the two parties were “very close” to a deal but still needed to cross the finish line. spoke.
He said Biden was receiving daily updates on the talks in Doha, and Israeli and Palestinian officials had announced since Thursday that there had been some progress in indirect talks between Israel and the militant group Hamas. .
“We’re still determined to spend every day of our tenure getting this job done, and we’re not going to set this aside no matter how we look at it,” Sullivan said. said.
He said there was still a chance that a deal could be reached before Biden leaves office, but it was also possible that “Hamas in particular remains stubborn.”
Israel launched an offensive into Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across the border in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, leaving much of the enclave in ruins and a humanitarian crisis, with most of the population forced to flee.
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance told the “Fox News Sunday” show in an interview recorded Saturday that an agreement on the release of American hostages in the Middle East could be reached in the final days of the Biden administration, likely by the end of 2020. He said he expected it to be announced. For the past day or two.
President-elect Donald Trump, an ardent supporter of Israel, strongly supports Prime Minister Netanyahu’s goal of destroying Hamas. He has promised to bring peace to the Middle East, but has not said how he will achieve that.
