WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the White House said, as US officials race to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza before Biden leaves office on January 20.
Biden and Netanyahu discussed ongoing efforts to reach a deal to stop fighting in the Palestinian enclave and release hostages remaining there, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by phone.
Biden “emphasized the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the hostages with an increase in humanitarian aid made possible by the cessation of fighting under the agreement,” he said.
Netanyahu updated Biden on the progress and the mandate he has given his high-level security delegation now in Doha to advance a hostage deal, Netanyahu said in a statement.
The two leaders also discussed “regional circumstances that have fundamentally changed following the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region,” the White House said.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the sides were “very, very close” to reaching a deal, but had yet to cross the finish line. .
He said Biden was receiving daily updates on talks in Doha, where Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Thursday that some progress has been made in indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
“We are still determined to use every day we have in office to accomplish this,” Sullivan said, “and under no circumstances are we going to let this go.”
He said there was still a chance of reaching an agreement before Biden left office, but that it was also possible that “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent.”
Israel launched its attack on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have died in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave devastated and hit by a humanitarian crisis, and most of its population displaced.
Vice President-elect JD Vance told “Fox News Sunday” in an interview taped Saturday that he expects a deal for the release of American hostages in the Middle East to be announced in the final days of the Biden administration, perhaps on the final day. or two.
President-elect Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has strongly backed Netanyahu’s goal of destroying Hamas. He has promised to bring peace to the Middle East, but has not said how he would achieve it.
