Under mounting pressure, Biden opts to press for ceasefire in Gaza

Israeli troops conduct military operations in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

The U.S. government has been facing increasing protests across the country calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and some groups are even seeking legal challenges to force the White House to withdraw support for Israel.

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Amid growing domestic discontent over his handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. President Joe Biden is now pressing for a ceasefire in Gaza in the run-up to November's presidential elections.

As more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its offensive against Hamas in October, Biden said earlier this week that he hoped to see a ceasefire by next Monday.

"Well I hope by the beginning of the weekend, I mean, the end of the weekend," Biden said Monday. "We're close, it's not done yet. And my hope is that by next Monday we'll have a ceasefire."

"The status quo isn't working," Christopher Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua while commenting on Biden's words.

Recent weeks have seen an increase in pressure on Biden to call for a ceasefire after the president was criticized when the United States vetoed another United Nations resolution that called on Israel to halt the fighting.

To protest Israel's military operation in Gaza, an active-duty airman of the U.S. Air Force set himself on fire Sunday at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

"The uptick in criticism from Progressives and Democrats overall for his response to the war is a real danger to the president," reported The Hill, a Washington D.C. newspaper that reports on Congress and politics.

Biden's "pro-Israel stance could result in him losing votes in 2024 in critical states like Michigan," The paper reported last week.

A man stands in front of destroyed buildings at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Xinhua)

Our Revolution, a political group founded by Senator Bernie Sanders, encouraged Michigan voters to vote "uncommitted" in Tuesday's Democratic primary instead of voting directly for Biden.

Over 101,000 Michigan voters cast their votes as "uncommitted" to protest Biden's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, accounting for more than 13 percent of the Michigan Democratic primary vote.

The state of Michigan is home to many Arab-Americans, who have expressed a sense of betrayal by what they believe is Biden's pro-Israel stance in the war in Gaza.

Greg Cusack, a former member of the Iowa House of Representatives, told Xinhua he thinks that "nothing will placate his (Biden's) domestic critics short of ending the destruction of Gaza, and I see no indication that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to help at all."

Recent polls have revealed that voters generally disapprove of Biden's management of the violent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Younger Americans are notably more critical than older voters, expressing dissatisfaction with both Israel's actions and the administration's handling of the Gaza conflict.

The U.S. government has been facing increasing protests across the country calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and some groups are even seeking legal challenges to force the White House to withdraw support for Israel.

Speaking of whether a ceasefire would help Biden, Galdieri said: "I don't know that it will turn around his numbers with the public at large."