President Joe Biden revealed a major update on the Gaza ceasefire talks Friday.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after he signed a proclamation to designate the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument, he explained why he had been late.
‘I was dealing with the ceasefire effort in the Middle East,’ the president said.
‘We are much closer than we’ve ever been,’ he continued. ‘I don’t want to jinx anything. We may have something. But we’re not there. We’re much, much closer than we were three days ago.’
Biden then added, ‘So keep your fingers crossed.’
He didn’t provide further details on the ongoing negotiations to stop the war in Gaza.
But politically both Biden and former President Donald Trump are on the same page about wanting the war to end.
During his long-winded press conference Thursday at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf resort, Trump said he had last spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during leader’s visit in late July to Mar-a-Lago
‘He knows what he’s doing, I did encourage him to get this over with,’ the Republican nominee said. ‘It has to get over with fast … Get your victory and get it over with.’
‘It has to stop, the killing has to stop,’ Trump added.
Trump, however, was critical of the ‘ceasefire’ talk, which has been a rallying cry on the political left.
‘From the start, [Vice President Kamala] Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire,’ Trump said at an event Thursday night, focused on countering antisemitism.
He said a ceasefire ‘would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack.’
‘I will give Israel the support that it needs to win but I do want them to win fast,’ the ex-president added.
Harris has been vocally critical of Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians but her campaign has said she doesn’t support an Israeli arms embargo, like some progressive Democrats support.
Both Biden and Harris have been working toward a Gaza ceasefire deal that would help Israel get their hostages back – citizens taken during Hamas’ October 7 terror attack.