WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken by phone in Biden’s final week in office, as momentum grows for a Gaza truce and hostage release agreement. Israel and Hamas are believed to be making headway, although crucial details of the prospective accord remain unclear.
According to the White House, Biden discussed the “fundamentally changed regional circumstances” following Israel’s cease-fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the erosion of Iran’s regional dominance. Netanyahu’s office claimed he had briefed Biden on orders he had given to senior negotiators in Doha “in order to advance the release of the hostages”.
Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal” during Sunday’s call, the first publicly reported since October. It happened a day after Netanyahu dispatched a high-level Israeli security delegation, including the directors of the Mossad espionage agency and the Shin Bet security service, to indirect talks in Qatar’s capital, mediated by Qatari, US, and Egyptian officials.
According to Israeli media, Netanyahu was meeting with cabinet members who opposed the ceasefire arrangement to encourage them not to leave. Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with his Israeli colleague in Jerusalem to explore progress on a deal.
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