U.S. President Joe Biden, in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, emphasized the urgent need to finalize a Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal and underscored the significance of upcoming talks in Cairo, the White House announced.
The conversation followed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent diplomatic mission to the Middle East, which concluded on Tuesday without a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave.
Negotiators, who have been working for months to secure a ceasefire deal, are set to convene in Cairo in the coming days.
“The president stressed the urgency of finalizing the ceasefire and hostage release deal and discussed the upcoming talks in Cairo aimed at overcoming any remaining obstacles,” the White House statement read.
Biden and Netanyahu also reviewed U.S. efforts to support Israel “against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” and ongoing U.S. military deployments in the region, according to the statement.
Iran has vowed retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, which it attributed to Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
In response, the United States has deployed a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and expedited the deployment of the Abraham Lincoln strike group to the region to bolster Israel’s defense.
Blinken, along with mediators from Egypt and Qatar, has expressed optimism in a U.S. “bridging proposal” intended to narrow the gaps between the two sides in the 10-month-long Gaza conflict.
“President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss the ceasefire and hostage release deal and diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions,” the White House earlier stated.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who will formally accept the Democratic nomination for the November 5th presidential election in Chicago on Thursday, also participated in the call.
Biden, currently vacationing at an 8,000-acre ranch in California’s Santa Ynez Valley, was expected to press Netanyahu to reconsider a new Israeli demand to maintain forces along a land corridor between Egypt and Gaza, according to a U.S. official prior to the call.
Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday refuted an Israeli television report that the country had agreed to withdraw its troops from the Philadelphi corridor, a 14.5-kilometer (nine-mile) stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Securing a Gaza ceasefire deal remains a major priority for Biden. A senior U.S. official on Friday described the negotiations as nearing a conclusion, though a final agreement remains elusive.
In the ongoing efforts to halt the 10-month conflict, Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, including the Philadelphi corridor. Israel, however, aims to retain control of the corridor, which it captured in late May after destroying numerous tunnels it claims were used to smuggle weapons to Gaza’s militant groups.
Source: Reuters
