The White House is planning a scaled-down iftar dinner to mark Ramadan this year

The White House is planning to host a small, solemn Ramadan iftar dinner this Tuesday evening – a scaled-down version of the traditional celebration given the ongoing war in Gaza, according to two people familiar with the White House's plans. They spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of any public announcement.

White House officials appear to be trying to hold an event that will both reflect the somber mood in the Muslim community because of the war, and also seem to be trying to curb the possibility of public interruptions or protests.

The result is an intimate dinner of 15 or so people – limited to President Biden, Vice President Harris, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, some Muslim staffers and a handful of outside guests, including doctors who've recently aided patients inside of Gaza.

Asked during Monday's White House press briefing about an iftar dinner on Tuesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not have any further details, though last week she said the White House was "committed" to marking the Muslim holidays.

There's no doubt the war and Biden's foreign policy will be top of mind. The goal of the iftar dinner, according to people familiar with the plans, is to allow guests to have a "substantive" conversation with the president about the situation in Gaza.

The White House has wrestled for months with growing discontent from a subset of Democratic voters over the president's Middle East policies.

During the Michigan primaries in February, there was an organized effort to vote "uncommitted" to pressure the Biden administration to call for a cease-fire. Similar efforts cropped up in primaries that followed around the country.

Last month, when senior administration officials traveled to