US expects 'significant de-escalation today,' Biden tells Netanyahu
As President Joe Biden appealed for calm, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there was no timeframe for ending the conflict with Hamas.
President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he expected “significant de-escalation" on Wednesday — the same day the Israeli leader told diplomats there was “no timeframe” for ending the fighting with Hamas.
The grueling conflict between Israel and Hamas entered its 10th day despite mounting international calls for a cease-fire. Israeli warplanes are pummeling the Palestinian enclave with airstrikes, and rockets launched by the Gazan militants continue to rain down on southern Israel.
As of Wednesday, at least 219 people in the Gaza Strip — nearly half of them women and children — have died in the Israeli strikes, according to Palestinian Health Ministry officials. Authorities in Israel have reported 12 casualties from the militants’ rocket attacks, including two children.
Netanyahu and Biden “had a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel’s progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States,” according to a White House readout of the call.
