US President Joe Biden avoided answering a question about whether he had any hope of reaching a ceasefire and bringing back Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip before the end of his term.
“Do you think you can keep from getting hit in the head by a camera behind you?” the outgoing president said at the White House on Tuesday after an Israeli journalist asked whether a deal might be possible by January.
Biden made the comment, according to a White House transcript, at the start of a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog as they were surrounded in the Oval Office by reporters and cameras.
Neria Kraus, the journalist who asked the question and posted a video on social media platform X, wrote that “the political reality is such that President Biden, who’s committed to bring the hostages home, was not able to give me a clear answer about this very critical question regarding getting a hostage deal by the end of his term”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been repeatedly blamed – including from within Israel – for sabotaging efforts to put an end to the war as he seeks to keep his far-right government in power. He created a furor in the country after sacking his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
While Israel’s new Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said this week that “certain progress” has been achieved in talks about a ceasefire in Lebanon – with Hezbollah maintaining it has not received any peace proposal yet – the Israeli authorities have reported no substantial ongoing talks on Gaza.
Some in Gaza and Lebanon are concerned that the re-election of Donald Trump as US president could spell more disaster for the besieged and displaced people in both territories.
During the meeting with Herzog on Tuesday, Biden again emphasised that “my commitment to Israel is ironclad and we share a deep friendship.”
The Israeli president began by discussing the latest Hezbollah attacks on Israel, but also noted that Israel still has 101 captives in the Gaza Strip more than 400 days after the start of the war on the enclave.
Herzog said they need to be returned to Israel safely “as they are going through hell in the dungeons of Gaza”, something Biden agreed with.
Qatar said it has suspended its mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel until the parties show “their willingness and seriousness” to end the war in Gaza.
The US said support to Israel will continue after a 30-day deadline to boost aid to Gaza or face cuts to weapons funding expired, despite a warning from eight humanitarian aid groups.
Joyce Msuya, the interim chief of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the world is “witnessing acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes in Gaza” as Israel dismissed warnings of famine in the enclave as “slanderous”.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military issued more forced displacement orders for Haret Hreik and Ghobeiry municipalities in Lebanon as it launched attacks on the capital, Beirut, while its forces pounded Gaza and pressed on with their offensive in the north of the enclave.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 43,712 Palestinians and wounded 103,258 since October 7, 2023, as a dire humanitarian crisis worsens in the enclave. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day and more than 200 were taken captive.
In Lebanon, at least 3,287 people have been killed and 14,222 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began.