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President Joe Biden speaks briefly with reporters before boarding the presidential helicopter Marine One and departing the White House on February 29 in Washington, DC.
WashingtonCNN –
The killing of more than a hundred Palestinians at a food distribution site in Gaza, where Israeli troops opened fire and sparked panic as civilians gathered around food aid trucks, has made ceasefire talks more urgent – but could also complicate them, President Joe Biden told reporters on Thursday .
“We are currently reviewing this, there are two competing versions of what happened. I don’t have an answer yet,” the president told CNN’s Arlette Saenz at the White House.
Asked if he feared the deaths would complicate negotiations, he replied: “Oh, I know that.”
At least 100 people were killed at the distribution point after Israeli forces began shooting while civilians waited for food, the Gaza Health Ministry said. A local journalist said many of those killed were crushed by aid trucks trying to escape the gunfire.
The Israel Defense Forces said: “The incident is under review.”
Almost five months after the start of Israel's war against Hamas, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to escalate. More than 30,000 people have been killed – including thousands of children – and hundreds of thousands are starving, as officials warn the area is on the brink of famine after relentless unrest by Israeli ground and air campaigns.
While Israel faces growing global pressure to end the conflict, it largely retains the support of the United States. President Joe Biden has resisted calls for a permanent ceasefire.
Biden's reluctance to break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to strain him politically. While the president narrowly won the Democratic presidential primary in Michigan on Tuesday, more than 100,000 Michigan residents voted “non-committal” after Arab American leaders tried to express voter dissatisfaction with Biden's Israel policy. Michigan will be a crucial state for Biden in the general election.
There has been progress in ceasefire negotiations in recent weeks, but a senior Hamas leader warned that Thursday's killings could lead to the breakdown of talks.
Biden spoke on Thursday with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt – countries that are playing an important role in the negotiations, a White House official said.
The situation “adds even more urgency to the process,” a senior administration official told CNN.
In Biden's conversation with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, both leaders “deplored the loss of civilian lives and agreed that this incident underscores the urgency of concluding negotiations as quickly as possible and continuing the flow of humanitarian aid.” “Expand Gaza,” the White House said in a reading.
According to the White House, the conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was similar. Biden also thanked Al-Sisi for his “leadership in providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza.”
For weeks, senior members of Biden's national security team have been deeply involved in facilitating negotiations between Israel and Hamas that would lead to a weeks-long lull in fighting and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. It would be the first interruption of the war since the end of November.
Biden himself said this week that he was confident a ceasefire could be reached by next Monday – a statement that surprised some of the parties involved in the talks. The White House said Wednesday that the president remains “optimistic” about that timeline.
A National Security Council spokesman said the White House was investigating the incident and called it “serious.”
“We mourn the loss of innocent lives and are aware of the terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza, where innocent Palestinians are just trying to feed their families. This underscores the importance of expanding and maintaining the flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, including through a possible temporary ceasefire. We continue to work day and night to achieve this result,” the spokesman said.
Biden continued to express optimism Thursday that a deal over the hostages and a possible ceasefire could be reached soon, but perhaps not as quickly as he had initially hoped.
“Hope is eternal,” Biden said. “I've been on the phone with people in the area, I still am – probably not until Monday, but I'm hopeful.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.