US President Biden says now ‘time to finalise’ Gaza deal and ‘end this war’

UNITED NATIONS: US President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned against “full-scale war” in the Middle East, urging leaders to find diplomatic solutions in both Lebanon and Gaza.

“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” Biden told the UN General Assembly after Israeli strikes in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah killed more than 550 people.

“Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible,” Biden said.

“In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely. And that’s what we are working tirelessly to achieve,” he said of the escalating conflict in Lebanon.

UN chief warns Lebanon on ‘brink’ as world leaders gather

The bloodshed in Lebanon came after months of US efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory of Gaza have failed.

Biden said he was still pushing for a ceasefire in the nearly year-long war there. US officials say both sides agree on the broad outlines.

“I put forward with Qatar and Egypt a ceasefire and hostage deal. It’s been endorsed by the UN Security Council. Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms,” Biden said.

The deal would “bring the hostages home and secure security for Israel and Gaza free from Hamas’s grip, ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war.”

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At UN for last time, Biden seeks to calm Mideast tension

US President Joe Biden addressed world leaders at the United Nations for the final time on Tuesday, declaring that Russia’s war in Ukraine has failed and that a diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah was still possible.

Media reports put Russian military death toll at 70,000

With four months left in office, Biden stepped up to the green-marbled lectern at the UN General Assembly with wars in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip, and Sudan still raging and likely to outlast his presidency, which ends in January.

Biden’s presidency has also been dominated by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was in the assembly hall to hear Biden speak and emphasize US support for his country.

“The good news is Putin’s war has failed at his core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free,” said Biden.

“We cannot grow weary, we cannot look away, and we will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins with a just, durable peace,” he said.

Gaza: over 41,000 Palestinians killed, farmland, schools destroyed

Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine, including about 80% of the Donbas area. Russian forces have begun storming the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a stronghold that has resisted Russian attack since the beginning of the war, according to Russian war bloggers and state media.

Biden is due to hear from Zelenskiy about a new Ukrainian peace plan when they meet in Washington on Thursday. A US official said the plan is probably much like previous plans calling for more weaponry and support for Ukraine’s fight.

Challenges for next US president

Biden’s UN speech is the centerpiece event of a two-day visit to New York that includes a climate speech later on Tuesday and a meeting on Wednesday with To Lam, the president of Vietnam.

Biden has been eager to deepen relations with the strategic Southeast Asian country and manufacturing hub to counter Russia and China, with which Vietnam also retains ties.

Ukraine and Russia, Gaza, Iran and China all figure to linger on as challenges for the next president, whether Biden’s successor is his vice president, Kamala Harris, a Democrat, or former President Donald Trump, a Republican.

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Harris’ approach to foreign policy is much like Biden’s, although she has struck a tougher tone on the tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and the humanitarian crisis in a Gaza Strip devastated by Israeli assaults.

Trump, professing more isolationist tendencies, has little enthusiasm for supporting Ukraine’s battle to expel Russian invaders and is a firm backer of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has frayed relations with Biden.

Under Biden’s leadership, the United States has funneled millions of dollars in American weaponry to Ukraine and rallied NATO solidarity behind Kyiv. But the conflict is largely at a stalemate with Russia hanging on to parts of eastern Ukraine it seized early in the war.