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Biden, who announced his withdrawal from the presidential race this weekend, has said ending the Gaza war remains a top priority in his final months in office. He has repeatedly said a ceasefire is imminent, even as the United States and other negotiating partners have fretted for months over the lack of a deal.
“There are still some differences. We will be discussing with the prime minister today how to bridge those differences,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters during the meeting Thursday.
The first phase includes a six-week ceasefire and the release of some hostages. The second phase would continue the cessation of hostilities while Hamas and Israel negotiate a permanent ceasefire and determine the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
“As a proud Zionist and a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” Netanyahu told Biden at the start of the meeting.
Biden’s meeting Thursday was his first in-person meeting with Netanyahu since the president visited Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks.
“I will continue to work to end the war in Gaza, bring all the hostages home, bring peace and security to the Middle East, and end this war,” Biden said. He said in an Oval Office speech on Wednesday.
Biden embraced Israel immediately after the Hamas attack, but has become more critical as Netanyahu continues his all-out assault on Gaza, calling on the Israeli leader to allow more aid into the region, where nearly 2 million civilians are suffering from widespread hunger and a collapsing health care system.
Kirby said the two leaders have a “healthy relationship,” but he did not know if the president watched Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday.
“When I say ‘healthy’ I mean they don’t agree on everything,” Kirby said. “They haven’t always agreed on everything over their long political careers. They come from different political traditions, but they understand each other.”
Kirby said a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages were the president’s top priorities heading into the meeting, but the leaders would also discuss ongoing security threats facing Israel and “unacceptable” violence in the West Bank.
After their bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, the two leaders will meet with the families of Americans held hostage by Hamas. People familiar with the matter said the White House hopes that by inviting the families to the meeting, it will further send the message that Netanyahu must stop making new demands and agree to the current hostage ceasefire.
Netanyahu’s government is considering releasing more than 100 Israeli hostagesbut many of them are believed to have died.
Jon Pollin, father of American hostage Hersh Goldberg Pollin, told The Washington Post: “Not bringing the hostages home would be a complete failure.”
Poling reiterated that message to Netanyahu during a meeting with the Israeli prime minister at Washington’s Watergate Hotel earlier this week. Netanyahu’s message to the hostages’ families at the time was that his government was close to a ceasefire and hostage release, but they said that message was unsatisfying.
“He did say we’re getting closer. I don’t know if he thought that would appease us, but for most of us, it didn’t appease us,” Poling said.
since Gaza WarNetanyahu has since been criticized for prioritizing the military goal of completely destroying Hamas over the urgency of securing the release of the hostages.
Earlier this summer, the United States accused Hamas of making new demands in the deal, but that view changed earlier this month when Netanyahu instructed Mossad chief David Baniya to come up with new demands for a change in objectives, according to a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Under the new conditions, Israel will not agree to Philadelphia Corridor Diplomats say Israel will not allow unrestricted access to the Strip for Gazans seeking to return to their homes in the north, insisting its army be allowed to establish checkpoint Monitoring the movements of displaced persons.
A senior administration official said on Wednesday that the United States wants Israel and Hamas to take action on certain fronts to reach an agreement, but he did not provide specific details.
The State Department used much less confrontational language when describing Israel’s position in the negotiations.
Asked about Israel’s negotiating position, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We have been engaging with them over the last several weeks to try to bridge the final differences. They have told us and continue to indicate that they are working to reach an agreement.”
This is a developing story. Will be updated.
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