By the time President Biden hung up the phone, he had finally delivered the threat he had refused to make for months: Israel had to change course, he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or the United States would take action.
But as the conversation ended on Thursday, aides to Mr. Biden said, the president had reason to hope that the message had gotten through and that he would not have to carry out his threat after all.
During the call, Mr. Biden outlined several specific commitments he wanted Israel to make to avoid losing his support for the war against Hamas.
Rather than pushing back, according to people informed about the call, Mr. Netanyahu promised that he would announce more humanitarian aid for Gaza within hours and signaled that he would respond to Mr. Biden’s other demands in days to come.
director, and Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries in Cairo to try again to broker a temporary cease-fire.
Persons:
Biden, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s, William J, Burns
Organizations:
White
Locations:
United States, Gaza, Israel, Cairo