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Hours after getting off his phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Joe Biden downplayed his disagreement with the Israeli prime minister over a future Palestinian state as a political goal in postwar Gaza.
Biden spoke of the possibility with reporters Friday at the White House, saying he believed "there are a number of types of two-state solutions" and that Netanyahu may be open to one of them.
"There's a number of countries that are members of the U.N. that ... don't have their own military, a number of states that have limitations. And so, I think there's ways in which this can work," Biden said, providing the most detail so far about his conversations with Netanyahu on Gaza's future.
Biden also dismissed the notion that a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians could not be reached with the current Israeli government in power - the most hardline in the country's history.
The Middle East has been a tinderbox since Iran-backed Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200 people while taking about 240 people as hostages. Israel's response has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians, a large percentage of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Neither side differentiates between combatants and civilians.
Netanyahu said Thursday that he told the U.S. he opposed Washington's long-standing support for the creation of a Palestinian state following Israel's war with Hamas, prompting criticism from some Democratic lawmakers. The White House denied that Netanyahu's statement was a factor in setting up the call, the first in nearly a month.
With a two-state solution, the White House hopes at the same time to broker a normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a long-sought prize with broad economic and security implications for the region.
Biden and Netanyahu also discussed efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas and Israel's shift to more targeted military operations, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at the White House press briefing Friday.
Asked by VOA whether Biden believed Netanyahu could be persuaded to change his mind, Kirby said the president still believed in "the promise and possibility" of a two-state solution.
"He believes it's going to take hard work and leadership," Kirby said. "He's willing to put his shoulder to the wheel for that eventual outcome."
Kirby added that the U.S. welcomed Israel's decision to permit the shipment of flour for the Palestinian people directly through Ashdod Port while the U.S. is separately working on options for more direct maritime delivery of assistance into Gaza.
Israel has not publicly confirmed the decision to permit the shipment of flour into Gaza, where the United Nations has said there is a growing risk of famine. The Netanyahu government is sensitive to public sentiment given that Hamas is still holding hostages.
Biden and Netanyahu also discussed "recent progress in ensuring the Palestinian Authority revenues are available to pay salaries, including for the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank," according to Kirby. Additionally, he said, the leaders discussed "Israel's responsibility" to protect innocent civilians even as it maintains military pressure on Hamas.
He underscored that the U.S. remained committed to the defense of its ally Israel and its right to exist as a country.
More strikes on Houthis
Kirby announced that U.S. forces conducted three "self-defense strikes" against Houthi targets in Yemen.
"This is a fourth preemptive action that the U.S. military has taken in the past week against the missile launchers that were ready to launch attacks," he said.
The administration earlier this week redesignated the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group following weeks of missile and drone attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis say their attacks on global shipping in the Red Sea corridor are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, something Kirby rejected.
"This idea that somehow that has to do with Gaza just doesn't square with the facts," he said in response to VOA's question. "Most of the ships that they're going after have nothing to do with Israel."
He underscored that Houthi attacks do not play into the administration's calculus on whether to push Israel for a cease-fire.
Deteriorating health care
In Gaza on Friday, the Hamas-run health ministry said 77 people were killed overnight and dozens more were wounded as Israel pounded the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis with airstrikes and gunfire.
Several strikes occurred near Al-Amal hospital, according to the health ministry.
The deteriorating health care in Gaza is an increasing concern, the head of the World Health Organization said.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 24 cases of hepatitis A, an inflammation of the liver, have been detected in Gaza and several thousand people have jaundice, presumably linked to undiagnosed cases of hepatitis A.
"The inhumane living conditions - almost no drinking water, clean toilets or ability to keep the surroundings clean - will allow hepatitis A to spread further," the WHO chief warned in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The inhumane conditions are making Gaza one of the most dangerous places in the world for a child, said Ted Chaiban, the deputy chief of UNICEF.
Russian talks on hostages
The Russian foreign ministry said Friday that it had held direct talks with a delegate from the Hamas militant organization, urging the release of hostages the group is holding in the Gaza Strip, including three Russian nationals.
The ministry said in a statement that Mikhail Bogdanov, a deputy foreign minister, had received Hamas Politburo member Abu Marzouk.
"During the conversation, the focus was on the ongoing confrontation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone against the backdrop of which the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached catastrophic proportions," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The Russian side stressed the need for the speedy release of civilians captured during the attacks of 7 October 2023 and held by Palestinian factions, including three Russian citizens - A. Kozlov, A. Lobanov and A. Trufanov," the statement read.
Israel has said it does not plan to reoccupy Gaza at the end of the war with Hamas but has refused to spell out its day-after plans for the territory.
Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel had destroyed about two-thirds of Hamas' fighting regiments in the Gaza Strip during three-plus months of war, and he vowed to continue the war until Israel had achieved "complete victory."
"There are two stages to the fighting. The first is destroying the Hamas regiments. Those are their organized combat frameworks," Netanyahu said.
"Up until now, 16 or 17 out of 24 [regiments] have been destroyed. After that, there is the [stage] of clearing the territory [of militants]. The first action is usually shorter. The second usually takes longer," Netanyahu said. "Victory will take many more months, but we are determined to achieve it."
The U.S. has for weeks pressed the Jewish state to curtail its massive offensive in Gaza to sharply limit the number of civilian deaths in the narrow territory along the Mediterranean Sea.
VOA's Penelope Poulou contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.