WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is determined to bring about a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas while also seeking to de-escalate tensions on Israel’s border with Lebanon, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
“He absolutely hasn’t given up,” Sullivan said in an interview with MSNBC hours before Biden addresses the UN General Assembly for the last time as president.
Biden will huddle with world leaders gathered in New York to work on a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza and avert an all-out war in the Middle East, Sullivan said.
He acknowledged challenges in getting both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar across the line and said Hamas and Sinwar in particular “don’t want to do a deal.”
“But we’re determined to keep at it,” Sullivan said.
The United States has worked to contain tensions in the region since Hamas’ attack inside Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 led to a nearly yearlong Israeli retaliation on the coastal strip.
The simmering conflict with Hezbollah at Israel’s northern border has spiked on and off since Oct. 7 and it is spiking now, he said.
“But we have averted it in those previous spikes, and I believe that we can still find a path forward to get de-escalation between Israel and across that northern border between Israel and Lebanon and bring about a diplomatic solution that allows people to return to their home,” Sullivan said.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Chizu Nomiyama)
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