Netanyahu heads to US to meet with Biden, address Congress amid ongoing conflicts

JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for the US on Monday, where he is set to meet President Joe Biden on Tuesday and address the US Congress the following day.

“I am leaving this for a very important trip to the United States at a time when Israel is fighting on seven fronts and when there is great political uncertainty in Washington,” Netanyahu addressed the media at Ben Gurion Airport moments before flying, according to daily The Times of Israel.

Channel 12 quoted Netanyahu as saying: “I am expecting to meet with President Joe Biden, whom I have known for over 40 years.”

He added: “This will be an opportunity to thank him for the things he has done for Israel, both during the war (on Gaza) and throughout his years as a senator, vice president, and president.”

“In the coming months, we will cooperate to free all our hostages, achieve victory over Hamas, counter the 'terror and aggression' of the Iranian axis of evil, and ensure the safe return of all our citizens in the north (Lebanon border) and the south (Gaza envelope) to their homes,” Netanyahu vowed.

The Prime Minister's Office announced on Sunday that Netanyahu would meet with Biden on Tuesday, without specifying the meeting's location.

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the US Congress on Wednesday.

“In this visit, I will address the Congress for the fourth time as Prime Minister of Israel,” he noted.

Cease-fire deal, mediation efforts

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu decided against stopping in any other country en route to Washington to avoid the risk of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

In early June, Biden proposed a deal to halt the fighting and secure the release of all captives, which Hamas accepted at the time, according to Israeli media.

However, Netanyahu added new conditions that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mossad chief David Barnea believed would hinder a deal.

These conditions included preventing the return of Palestinian militants from southern Gaza to the north by inspecting returnees at the Nitzarim checkpoint and maintaining Israeli army control over the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, which was declared under Israeli control on May 29.

For months, mediation efforts led by the US, Qatar, and Egypt have been attempting to secure an agreement between Israel and Hamas that ensures a prisoner exchange and a cease-fire, leading to the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

However, mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu's refusal to meet Hamas's demands to halt the war.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 39,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 89,700 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Mohammad Sio.