US President Joe Biden, in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, stressed the urgent need to conclude a Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal and pointed to upcoming Cairo talks as crucial, the White House said.
Their call followed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's whirlwind trip to the Middle East that ended on Tuesday without an agreement between Israel and Hamas militants on a truce in the Palestinian enclave.
Negotiators who have struggled for months to conclude a ceasefire deal plan to meet in the coming days in Cairo.
"The president stressed the urgency of bringing the ceasefire and hostage release deal to closure and discussed upcoming talks in Cairo to remove any remaining obstacles," a White House statement about the call said.
According to Reuters, the statement said Biden and Netanyahu also discussed US efforts to support Israel "against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, to include ongoing defensive US military deployments."
Iran has vowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, which is blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the killing.
The United States has ordered a guided missile submarine be deployed to the Middle East and ordered the Abraham Lincoln strike group to accelerate its deployment to the region to be on hand to bolster Israel's defense.
Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar have pinned their hopes on a US "bridging proposal" aimed at narrowing the gaps between the two sides in the 10-month-old Gaza war.
"President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss the ceasefire and hostage release deal and diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions," a White House statement said earlier.
