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It's time to end the war in Gaza and ensure all the remaining hostages are freed.
That message was delivered to Benjamin Netanyahu by multiple people from the Biden administration, including Vice President Kamala Harris who had what she called a "frank and constructive" meeting.
“It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination. There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal and as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done.”
A day after his combative speech to Congress, in which he vowed to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and denounced American opponents of the war in Gaza as "Iran's useful idiots", Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with Joe Biden for their first face-to-face talks since the October 7 attack.
“Mr. President, we've known each other for 40 years, and you've known ever Israeli Prime Minister for 50 years. From Golda Meir, so from a proud Jew Zionist to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel. And I look forward to discussing with you today and working with you in the months ahead on the great issues before us.”
The relationship between these leaders has been strained because of Israel's attacks on Gaza which have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
At one point, Joe Biden publicly threatened to withhold weapons shipments if Israel launched a ground offensive in Rafah.
That threat infuriated Mr Netanyahu who made it clear in June that it would be "inconceivable" for the Biden administration to withhold weapons and ammunition from Israel.
Officials from the Biden administration say negotiations on a hostage release deal are in their closing stages but there are issues that need to be resolved.
As National Security Council spokesman John Kirby put it "the gaps are closable".
And relatives of U.S hostages got a White House meeting with Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu.
They described that meeting as "productive and honest", emphasising the need to complete a ceasefire deal that could result in the release of their relatives.
Jonathan Dekel-Chen is the father of American Israeli hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen:
“What we did find by the end of the meeting, which was productive and honest, that we feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November early December where a little over 100 of Israel's hostages were released, and we got absolute commitment from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment now to waste no time and to complete this deal, as it currently stands, with as little change as humanly possible within it.”
The United States government dispatched state department officials to reinforce its message.
The State Department's Matthew Miller urging the Israeli government to think carefully about the future of Gaza after the war between Israel and Hamas is over.
“As you who have heard the secretary say, in the absence of realistic plans for the day after the conflict, you will either have, Israel occupying Gaza, which we reject. They have said they don't want to do. You will have Hamas in charge, which obviously is not in the interest of Israel and clearly is also not in the interest of the region, or you'll have chaos and anarchy, which is a breeding ground for terrorism, which will hurt the interests of the Palestinian people in Gaza make it harder for them to get food and water and civilian assistance. It really is not in anyone's interest. So we're going to continue to push them to engage seriously on these plans because they're critical not just to the future of the Palestinian people, but to the future of Israel, as well.”
Outside the White House, Gaza war protesters chanted "Arrest Netanyahu" and brought an effigy with blood on its hands and wearing an orange jumpsuit bearing the words "Wanted for crime against humanity."
They also poured red liquid onto the street to symbolise the blood of Palestinians.
New Hampshire resident Corey Walden was among the demonstrators.
“Congress invited Netanyahu to address them, and during his visit, having this war criminal who is. You know, we're expecting warrants for his arrest, for his war crimes and the genocide that he is perpetuating, and that the U.S. government complicit in. And it's just disgusting that he’s here, so we're here to protest that and let him know that he's not welcome here.”
And on the number of people killed in Gaza, a London-based non-profit known as Airwars says it's carried out an investigation which indicates about 75 per cent of all the deaths reported by the Ministry of Health in Gaza matched the names that Palestinian civilians reported online.
Their findings covered the first 17 days of the war and matched 2,236 victims to the first list from the Ministry of Health.
Joe Dyke, the Head of Investigations at Airwars, says he and his team worked over nine months applying a methodology developed in prior conflicts to gather incident documentation and reports from the ground that continue to be updated.
"The scale of civilian harm in Gaza was higher than anything that we had documented as an organisation in the ten years that we have been doing this work. And that includes the Russian bombing of Syria, the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, and also a number of other conflicts, including parts of Russia's war with Ukraine, though not all of it.”
The United Nations regularly cites the ministry's death toll figures, while naming the ministry as the source, and the World Health Organisation has voiced full confidence in them.
Israeli officials have said the figures are suspect because of Hamas' control over government in Gaza.
But Israel's military has also accepted in briefings that the overall Gaza casualty numbers are broadly reliable.
In May, Benjamin Netanyahu said 14,000 Hamas fighters and 16,000 Palestinian civilians had been killed in the war.
The Israeli leader is now expected to travel to Florida to meet with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
