US President Joe Biden (R) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at the White House in Washington DC, United States on July 25, 2024. [Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO) / Handout – Anadolu Agency]’
US President Joe Biden emphasised the need to close remaining gaps and finalise a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said yesterday.
During the meeting at the White House, the two leaders discussed developments in Gaza and ongoing negotiations on the ceasefire and hostage release deal in detail, it said in a statement.
“President Biden expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalise the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza.”
Biden “also raised the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the need to remove any obstacles to the flow of aid and restoring basic services for those in need, and the critical importance of protecting civilian lives during military operations,” it added.
“President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
The White House visit is Netanyahu’s first since Biden assumed office in 2021 amid repeated rifts between the allies. International pressure for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed and destruction in Gaza has continued to mount as the death toll rapidly approaches 40,000.
The Israeli prime minister also met with Vice President Kamala Harris, during which she is said to have expressed concern about the situation in the Gaza Strip.
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“I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity,” Harris told reporters after the closed-door meeting with Netanyahu.
The meeting came a day after Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress, where he claimed that the war in Gaza has “one of the lowest ratios of combatants to non-combatant casualties in the history of urban warfare”, and that occupation forces were not hingering the entry of aid into the Strip.
He said Israel had “enabled more than 40,000 aid trucks to enter Gaza” adding that it amounts to “more than 3,000 calories for every man, women, and child in Gaza.”
However, he did not differentiate between the type of aid being sent in the trucks, with some carrying tents and mattresses rather than food and medical aid.
While also failing to mention that prior to Israel’s ongoing bombardment 500 trucks were entering Gaza every day and these were insufficient to provide for the Strip’s needs.
At the rate of entry prior to the war, 147,500 trucks would have entered the Strip between 7 October and the date of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, however the number he listed fell far short of that.
The genocidal war on Gaza has greatly damaged Biden’s favourability among Democrats, and if he is able to secure a ceasefire, that would be a boon for Harris as she mounts her own White House bid after the president announced he would not be running in the upcoming election and endorsed her to succeed him.
Source: Middle East Monitor
