U.S. President Joe Biden speaks out on COVID-19 response and vaccination in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on May 17, 2021.
Nicholas Comb | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden called with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday afternoon to express support for a ceasefire as Israel-Hamas fighting enters a second week.
“The president reiterated his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks. The president welcomed efforts to crack down on inter-municipal violence and calm Jerusalem,” said a White House reading.
Biden also urged Israel to ensure the protection of innocent civilians during the conflict.
On Sunday, Israel went on strike that leveled several houses in the Gaza Strip. At least 42 people were killed in the deadliest strike to date in the ongoing conflict. More than 3,000 rockets have now bombed Israeli cities.
Netanyahu defended a punitive air strike on Saturday that collapsed a 12-story building filled with international media, citing news that Hamas was using part of the building to plan terrorist attacks.
A member of the Palestinian Civil Protection walks amid the rubble of a building in Gaza City that houses the Intaj Bank, affiliated with the Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip, on May 15, 2021.
Mahmud Hams | AFP | Getty Images
Netanyahu said residents of the building, which included the Associated Press, Al-Jazeera broadcaster and other media outlets, were evacuated an hour before the strike.
“Here’s the intelligence we had,” Netanyahu told the CBS Sunday program “Face the Nation”.
″[It’s] In this building there is a secret service of the Palestinian terrorist organization, which plans and organizes the terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. So it’s a perfectly legitimate goal, “he said.
The White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki would not confirm on Monday whether the Biden government agrees with the assessments of the Israeli intelligence service. Instead, it reiterated the call for the violence to be de-escalated.
The Palestinians are assessing the damage caused by Israeli air strikes on May 14, 2021 in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip.
Mahmud Hams | AFP | Getty Images
While speaking with Netanyahu on Monday, Biden also discussed working with other partners and allies in the region to ease tensions.
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken had told reporters that officials across the administration were “working around the clock” to put an end to the violence.
The nation’s top diplomat has discussed the ongoing conflict with his colleagues in Israel, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.
Blinken added that US envoy Hady Amr, deputy assistant secretary of state for Israel and Palestinian affairs, was on the ground in the region.
