Biden Says He Will Keep Pushing Gaza Ceasefire Efforts

 President Joe Biden speaks as other G20 leaders listen during the G20 Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Eric Lee/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
President Joe Biden speaks as other G20 leaders listen during the G20 Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Eric Lee/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
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Biden Says He Will Keep Pushing Gaza Ceasefire Efforts

 President Joe Biden speaks as other G20 leaders listen during the G20 Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Eric Lee/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
President Joe Biden speaks as other G20 leaders listen during the G20 Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Eric Lee/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

President Joe Biden told fellow global leaders at a Group of 20 summit Monday that his soon-to-end administration would keep pushing to bring an equitable end to Israel’s devastating war against Hamas in Gaza.

Seated between leaders of France and India at a long oval table at the summit site in Rio de Janeiro, Biden cited US efforts on hunger and poverty in his soon-to-end four years in office, saying he had put $160 billion into global development.

With fewer than three months left in his term, Biden also said his administration would keep pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on its conduct of the war and the need to end it.

“Israel has a right to defend itself after the worse massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. But how it defends itself ... matters a great deal.”

“We’re going to keep pushing to accelerate a ceasefire deal that ensures Israel’s security and brings hostages home and ends the suffering of the Palestinian people and children,” he said.

Biden also said Hamas was still refusing a deal, adding, “I am asking everyone to increase the pressure on Hamas.”



9 Members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Killed in Israeli Strikes are Buried in Damascus

Syrian security forces and civilians inspect the scene of an airstrike in the Al-Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, 14 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER
Syrian security forces and civilians inspect the scene of an airstrike in the Al-Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, 14 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER
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9 Members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Killed in Israeli Strikes are Buried in Damascus

Syrian security forces and civilians inspect the scene of an airstrike in the Al-Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, 14 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER
Syrian security forces and civilians inspect the scene of an airstrike in the Al-Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, 14 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER

Nine members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Damascus were buried Monday in the Syrian capital.
Women in the crowd wept as the dead were transported to the Yarmouk cemetery in the Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. Some held images of slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Israeli strikes on Thursday targeted two buildings with the offices of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killing 15 people, including Syrian civilians, and wounding 20 others, officials said.
The funeral on Monday was held for the nine Islamic Jihad members, including two high-ranking officials — commander Abdel Aziz Saeed Minawi and Rasmi Youssef Abu Issa, who was in charge of the group's Arab affairs.
The wife of Ali Kabalan, a 44-year-old fighter who was killed Thursday, told The Associated Press that while the loss was unbearable, she and their five children were “proud” that he died “a martyr for the cause of Palestine’s liberation.”
The Israeli military claimed the strikes dealt significant damage to its group’s leadership. Israel has accused the Islamic Jihad, alongside Hamas, of coordinating the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel that ignited the ongoing war.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria targeting members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and officials from Iranian-backed groups.