JAKARTA - United States (US) President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might delay ending the war in Gaza for political reasons.

In an interview with Time magazine released Tuesday, June 4, Biden spoke days before detailing the ceasefire proposal in Gaza and as the Israeli prime minister struggled with deep political divisions at home.

When asked if he thought Netanyahu extended the war for his own political reasons, Biden said: "There are many reasons for people to draw such conclusions."

Biden, who has pushed for an end to the war that has lasted for nearly eight months, also said he was "not sure" whether Israeli forces had committed war crimes in Gaza.

Last month, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague requested an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and his defense chief, as well as three Hamas leaders, on suspicion of war crimes.

Israel launched air and groundstrikes in Gaza last October and vowed to destroy the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas after they attacked Israeli territory, killing about 1,200 people and holding more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies. About 120 hostages are still in Gaza.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities there, who said thousands of bodies were buried under the rubble.

Polls showed most Israelis supported the war but blamed Netanyahu for the security failure when armed groups of Hamas went berserk in the Israeli community near Gaza on October 7, and would vote for him out in the event of an election.


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