A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced US President Joe Biden reached out by phone for the first time to discuss the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The Saturday call between Biden and Abbas is the first between the two since the US president took office in January.
Though details about the call are not yet known, the Biden administration has been working to push calm between Palestine and Israel, with the president also contacting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday. That’s after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed a building where international media offices for the Associated Press and Al Jazeera were located.
Biden spoke to Netanyahu about concerns for civilian casualties to which the prime minister said Israel “is doing everything to avoid harming” people not involved in their conflict with Hamas.
A report about the call from Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister assured Biden that the “uninvolved” were evacuated from the Gaza tower before it was destroyed and he thanked the president for his “support.”
Biden stood by Israel earlier this week, saying the US ally has “a right to defend itself” and he hopes the ongoing violence will “be closing down sooner rather than later.”
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