NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed a cease-fire in Gaza on Sunday and said hundreds of trucks were entering the coastal enclave to help its civilians.
“Today the guns in Gaza fell silent,” Biden said in brief remarks during a visit to North Charleston, South Carolina. “We expect several hundred trucks to enter the Gaza Strip probably at this very moment.”
Most of the civilians in the Gaza Strip were displaced during 15 months of Israeli bombing aimed at eliminating Hamas militants who attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Sunday is Biden’s last full day in office. The outgoing president, a former US senator long involved in foreign policy, said the ceasefire agreement was one of the most difficult negotiations he had been involved in, but defended his decision to back Israel in months of attacks that have killed nearly 50,000. Palestinians in Gaza.
“The road to this agreement was not easy at all, it was a long road,” Biden said. “But we have reached this point today because of the pressure that Israel has put on Hamas, with the support of the United States.”
Biden, who is handing over the US presidency to Republican Donald Trump on Monday, said it was up to the next administration to implement the Gaza deal.
