The two leaders spoke on Thursday and while Biden pledged to support Israel against renewed threats from Iran and allied militias such as Hezbollah, he said he was “very direct” with Netanyahu, with the regional fallout from the war worsening. “We have the basis for a ceasefire,” Biden told reporters. “He should move on it and they should move on it now.” He said the assassination in Iran this week of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and a key negotiator for the group, had “not helped.”
Meanwhile, the funeral of Haniyeh took place in Qatar on Friday following his assassination two days ago in Iran’s capital Tehran-one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian militant group.
Mourners at the ceremony in a large mosque just north of the capital Doha included Khaled Meshaal, who is tipped to be the new Hamas leader. Other senior Hamas officials and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani also attended.
