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US says closer than ever to ceasefire as Netanyahu and Biden meet

25 July 2024 22:36 BST

The US said on Thursday that talks to reach a ceasefire in Gaza are in the “closing stages”, as President Joe Biden hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, DC.

Biden will press Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal during the two leaders’ discussions, US officials said. 

"I think the message from the American side in that meeting will be that we need to get this deal over the line,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday.

Biden and Netanyahu, who have a decades-long relationship going back to when Biden was a US senator in the 1970s, were photographed in the Oval Office, with Biden's historic decision not to seek re-election palpable in the room. 

READ MORE: US says closer than ever to ceasefire as Netanyahu and Biden meet

US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in White House's Oval Office, on 25 July 2024 in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP)
US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in White House's Oval Office, on 25 July 2024 in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP)