Saying, “hope springs eternal,” President Joe Biden told reporters he remains “hopeful” about the prospects for a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, though he admitted, “probably not by Monday,” as the president suggested earlier this week.
Biden‘s comments come amid reports that at least 104 people were killed as Palestinians lined up for humanitarian assistance. Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said another 760 people were wounded.
Biden told reporters his administration is “checking that out right now.”
“There are two competing versions of what happened,” he added.
The president made the comments as he departed the White House for the US-Mexico border.
Former President Donald Trump is also heading to the Texas border Thursday.
Biden will go to the Rio Grande Valley city of Brownsville, where border crossings are down lately. Trump will be 300 miles away at a state park that is at the epicenter of a standoff between Texas and the federal government over enforcement.