People search amid the rubble for survivors following an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
People search amid the rubble for survivors following an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
People search amid the rubble for survivors following an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
People search amid the rubble for survivors following an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

Biden calls for temporary pauses in strikes on Gaza in call with Netanyahu


Jihan Abdalla
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Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza

US President Joe Biden held a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, during which they discussed “temporary and localised pauses” in strikes on the Gaza Strip, the White House said.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Mr Biden wants to see more aid enter Gaza and more Americans leave the besieged enclave.

“We're going to continue to advocate for temporary and localised pauses in the fighting,” Mr Kirby told reporters on a call.

“And we consider ourselves at the beginning of this conversation, not at the end of it.

He added that Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu had agreed to talk again in the coming days.

The call came as more Americans left the Gaza Strip on Monday, as fewer than 30 aid lorries entered the besieged enclave in the past 24 hours.

“So aid is getting in – not enough, [and] people are coming out – not enough,” Mr Kirby said.

The Biden administration has said that it does not back a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, saying it would only benefit Hamas.

Mr Kirby said that during the call, the President emphasised the need to protect Palestinian civilians and reduce civilian harm “to the maximum extent possible”.

Israel began the aerial bombardment of Gaza and, more recently, launched a ground invasion after Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostage.

More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including about 4,100 children, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The high death toll is increasing pressure on the Biden administration to find a solution to the conflict.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, and warned that Gaza was becoming a “graveyard for children”.

More than 300 Americans have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing to Egypt since Wednesday, Mr Kirby said, and more are expected to evacuate in the coming days.

During the call, Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu also discussed the occupied West Bank, where more than 140 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military.

Mr Biden is concerned about the rise in settler violence against Palestinians, Mr Kirby said, and called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

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Name: Abeer Al Bah

Born: 1972

Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992

Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old

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Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.

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"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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Updated: November 06, 2023, 8:32 PM`