Biden discussed developments in Israel, Gaza with Netanyahu: White House

US President Joe Biden discussed developments in Israel and Gaza with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Friday, the White House said, as the Israeli military continued a major advance in the southern Gaza Strip.

No further details were immediately disclosed, but the White House said it would issue a fuller statement later Friday.

Biden’s call with Netanyahu came as Red Crescent officials reported “intense gunfire from the Israeli drones targeting citizens at Al-Amal Hospital” in Khan Younis, the main city in the southern part of Gaza.

Israel launched a major new advance in Khan Younis this week to capture the city, which it says is now the primary base of the Hamas fighters who attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and precipitating a war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza health ministry said 142 Palestinians had been killed and 278 injured in Gaza the past 24 hours, raising the death toll from more than three months of war to 24,762.

A Palestinian-American teenager was killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank on Friday, Palestinian health officials said.