US President Joe Biden has told Israel’s prime minister he expects to see a significant de-escalation in its conflict with Hamas today.
In what will be seen as Biden’s toughest public pressure on the US ally so far, the White House said the president asked Mr Netanyahu in a telephone call to move toward “the path to a cease-fire”.
Pressure has been mounting on Biden too, as the death toll in the conflict has now topped 200.
However, there remains little sign of a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza after more than a week of cross-border attacks.
After Israeli’s N12 TV news channel said fighting could end on Thursday morning, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, Ezzat El-Reshiq, said there had been “no agreement reached over specific timings for a ceasefire”.