US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop bullshitting me” during their phone conversation on Thursday, an Israeli media report said Saturday.
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The outburst had come after Netanyahu told Biden that Israel was moving forward with negotiations on a hostages-for-ceasefire deal with Hamas and would soon send a delegation to resume talks, The Times Of Israel reported, citing Channel 12 news.
Ceasefire Talks Stalled?
Senior Israeli security officials, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief Herzi Halevi, reportedly warned Netanyahu that his insistence on new terms could jeopardize the ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. They claim that Netanyahu is aware that the new conditions he is demanding—part of an updated Israeli proposal—will likely doom the agreement
The updated proposal includes a requirement for an inspection mechanism to prevent combatants from moving to the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Those ceasefire talks have been ongoing for many months without results, and Biden has previously said that Netanyahu has been intentionally stalling for internal political reasons. This report comes as Middle East tensions soared Saturday as Iran and its allies readied their response to the assassination of Hamas’s political leader, blamed on Israel, spurring fears of a regional war.
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West Asia on The Boil
The United States said it would move warships and fighter jets to the region, while Western governments called on their citizens to leave Lebanon — where the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement is based — and airlines cancelled flights. The killing this week of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, has triggered vows of vengeance from Iran and the so-called “axis of resistance”. Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria have already been drawn into the nearly 10-month war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel on Saturday again traded fire with Hezbollah, carried out a deadly raid in West Bank, and struck a school compound in Gaza City in an attack that the Hamas-ruled territory’s civil defence agency said killed at least 17 people. Several schools turned into displacement shelters have been hit across Gaza in recent weeks, with Israel insisting militants had used the facilities. However, Hamas denied using civilian infrastructure for military activities. Haniyeh was buried on Friday in Qatar, where he had been based. Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of carrying out the attack, has not directly commented on it.
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Iran said on Saturday it expects Hezbollah to hit deeper inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets. The Pentagon said it was bolstering its military presence in the Middle East to protect US personnel and defend Israel. It said an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln would be deployed, as well as additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers and a new fighter squadron. Biden, at his beach home in Delaware, was asked by reporters if he thought Iran would stand down. “I hope so,” he said. “I don’t know.”
(With agency inputs)
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