New York City, US, Nov 1 (EFE).- United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a “pause” in the Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip to get the hostage being held by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas out of the territory.
“I think we need a pause. A pause means giving time to get the prisoners out,” the president said in response to a protester who interrupted a campaign event in Minnesota.
The protester, who identified herself as a rabbi, was removed from the event by security while shouting “cease-fire now.”
Biden acknowledged that this was a very difficult situation for Israelis “and also for the Muslim world.”
The Democrat emphasized that he always supported the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At a United Nations Security Council meeting on Oct. 24, Secretary of State Antony Blinken requested for the first time “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza so that aid could be delivered to civilians in the Strip.
But he didn’t request a ceasefire as UN Secretary General António Guterres had done a short while earlier.
Three days later, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said in a press briefing that the US administration would support “humanitarian pauses” both for the entry of material into the Strip and for the release of the Israeli hostages.
He said that it was something the US had discussed with Israel but that they had nothing to announce at the moment. EFE
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