US President Joe Biden has said that he is pushing for a six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The deal could then take the time to build something more enduring, Biden added.
Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah II have discussed ways and means to end Israel’s war on Gaza.
The discussions covered a wide range of issues including an Israeli ground offensive in southern Gaza.
“All attacks against innocent civilians, women and children, including those of October 7, cannot be accepted by any Muslim. As I have previously stressed, we must make sure the horrors of the past few months since October 7, are never repeated, nor accepted by any human being,” Abdullah said.
The US government recently urged their Israeli counterparts to not carry out a campaign in Rafah and allow the hostages to be freed and humanitarian assistance to increase.
On February 12, Biden spoke to Netanyahu and stressed that “a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there.”
The Jordanian king is visiting the US, Canada, France, Germany amid mounting international efforts for a deal to pause fighting in Gaza and free hostages held there by Hamas.
Palestinian health officials estimate that over 28,000 people have died in Israel’s offensive against Hamas.
Though the US criticism of Israel’s war has grown over the past weeks, Washington has not signalled any plans to control the aid flowing into Israel for its military campaign.
On February 12, when asked if Israel would face any consequences for how it goes about its next military campaign, John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said that he was not going to get into “hypotheticals.”
He said that the United States was working to influence how Israel conducted its war.
“There have been moments and there continue to be moments where we have the opportunity and have taken the opportunity to shape their thinking and to help influence the way they have conducted some of these operations,” he said. “And that remains today.”
