Biden calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire in call with Netanyahu: White House

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden spoke on Jan 12 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as US officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal before Mr Biden leaves office on Jan 20.

Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu discussed efforts under way to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining hostages there, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by telephone.

Mr Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal”, it said.

Mr Netanyahu updated Mr Biden on progress in the talks and on the mandate he has given his top-level security delegation now in Doha in order to advance a hostage deal, Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.

The two leaders also discussed “the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the

fall of the Assad regime in Syria

and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region”, the White House said.

Mr Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s State Of The Union programme earlier on Jan 12 that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal, but still had to get it across the finish line.

He said Mr Biden was getting daily updates on the talks in Doha, where Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Jan 9 that some progress has been made in the indirect talks between Israel and militant group Hamas.

Mr Sullivan said: “We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done, and we are not, by any stretch of the imagination, setting this aside”.

He said there was still a chance to reach an agreement before Mr Biden leaves office, but that it was also possible “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent”.

During their call, Mr Netanyahu also thanked Mr Biden for his lifelong support of Israel and “the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defence”, the White House said.

Israel

launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders 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, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis and most of its population displaced.

US Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance told the Fox News Sunday programme in an interview taped on Jan 11 that he expects a deal for the release of US hostages in the Middle East to be announced in the final days of the Biden administration, maybe in the last day or two.

US President-elect Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has strongly backed Mr Netanyahu’s goal of destroying Hamas. He has promised to bring peace to the Middle East, but has not said how he would accomplish that. REUTERS