Biden scrambles to salvage cease-fire talks after IDF reportedly kills scores of Palestinians
Biden is trying to save Gaza ceasefire negotiations but remains unwilling to make major shifts in his policy toward Israel, including placing conditions on aid as some Democrats suggest, officials say.
The Biden administration is trying to salvage cease-fire negotiations after dozens of Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli forces while waiting in line for humanitarian aid in Gaza, according to multiple U.S. officials. Privately, administration officials expressed grave concern that negotiations on a deal to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and a temporary pause in Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip could stall.
Administration officials — from President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on down — made calls Thursday to their counterparts in capitals across the Middle East to try to salvage the negotiations. But there was a growing sense of pessimism in the White House that a deal Biden recently said was close could be finalized, one official said.
At the same time, administration officials tried to put a measured public face on the crisis, wary of overreacting at a delicate moment — and a potential inflection point in the war. The aid convoy deaths came on the same day that the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry announced that the Palestinian death toll in the war had passed 30,000.
Biden is desperate for a deal that would pause the violence in Gaza as he faces rising frustration with the Israeli government’s approach to the conflict and widespread pressure at home as he campaigns for re-election. U.S. allies overseas are also expressing frustration, with France calling for an investigation of the aid convoy deaths.
“Deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X. “I express my strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice and respect for international law.”
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