Biden tells Israeli leader Netanyahu he expects ‘significant de-escalation’ on path to cease-fire

WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden has stepped up the pressure on Israel to end 10 days of violent skirmishes with Palestinians, making clear in a call Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he expects “significant de-escalation” by day’s end.

Biden asked Netanyahu to move “toward the path to a cease-fire.” That’s according to a White House description of their conversation.

There is pressure, too, on Biden to do more, with more than 200 people killed in the fighting. Until Wednesday, Biden had avoided pushing the American ally more directly and publicly for a cease-fire or conveyed such a level of urgency for ending Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas in the thickly populated Gaza Strip.

The Biden administration had relied on what officials described as “quiet, intensive” diplomacy, including quashing a U.N. Security Council statement that would have addressed a cease-fire. The administration’s handling opened a divide between Biden and Democratic lawmakers, dozens of whom have called for a cease-fire.

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Biden’s call came after Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people overnight across the Gaza Strip and destroyed the home of an extended family.

The Israeli military said Wednesday it widened its strikes in the Palestinian territory’s south to blunt continuing rocket fire from Hamas, while a separate barrage also came from Lebanon. For the third time since the war began, rockets were launched toward Israel from the north.

In southern Gaza, residents surveyed the piles of bricks, concrete and other debris that had once been the home of 40 members of al-Astal family. They said everyone escaped after a warning missile hit the building.

Gaza health officials say at least 219 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting to date. Twelve people in Israel have died.