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President Joe Biden on Saturday said progress was being made on a humanitarian pause — something his administration has pushed for to get hostages out and aid into Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Answering a shouted question on if progress was being made, Biden gave a thumbs up and said, “Yes,” as he was departing church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed U.S. support for temporary pauses in the Israel-Hamas war during remarks at a summit in Jordan on Saturday. He again rejected the idea of a ceasefire being promoted by many Middle Eastern officials at the summit in Amman.
“It’s our view that a ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7. And you don’t have to take my word for it — just a few days ago that a senior Hamas official said it was their intent to do Oct. 7 again and again and again,” Blinken said. “No nation would accept that. None of us would find that tolerable.”
The remarks capped off an afternoon of talks with Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi, Qatari and Emirati diplomats and a senior Palestinian official.
Despite the divide, Blinken thanked the other officials for their partnership.
“We appreciate the engagement of every country, and we’re particularly grateful to Jordan and to Egypt,” said Blinken, noting that both countries have “long worked toward a two-state solution,” which he later called “the sole viable solution” to the overarching conflict.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow and Shannon K. Crawford
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