Biden talks with Netanyahu as relative of US hostage blames Israeli PM

President Joe Biden talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday amid a fraying of the two leaders’ relationship and criticism on a major US cable news network directed at the prime minister by a relative of an American held by Hamas.

The White House readout of the call described the two men as having discussed “ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”, a day after the US president attended the glitzy White House Correspondent’s Association dinner that was once again targeted by protests of the US support for Israel during the war in Gaza.

It was the first conversation between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu since Hamas militants released a video on Saturday showing a US citizen taken hostage in the bloody Oct 7 attack that killed 1,139 and saw hundreds of Israelis and others, including Americans, taken captive by the militant group. More than 100 are thought to remain prisoners of Hamas in Gaza.

“The President referred to his statement with 17 other world leaders demanding that Hamas release their citizens without delay to secure a ceasefire and relief for the people of Gaza,” read the White House’s description of the call. It went on to say that the two leaders further discussed preparations for new humanitarian aid crossings.

Mr Biden’s latest conversation with the Israeli PM comes as opposition to the US’s role in the conflict is seemingly spiralling into a major protest movement across the country, likely provoked at least in part by violent crackdowns against demonstrators at Columbia university and other schools including Emory University in Georgia.

At Saturday’s White House Correspondent’s Association dinner in Washington DC, protesters were both