Biden Speaks with Israel’s Netanyahu as US Monitors Situation | VOA News

The United States is continuing to monitor the situation in Israel, U.S. President Joe Biden said, adding that he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier Wednesday.

Israel said Wednesday it has formed an emergency war-time unity government to fight Hamas militants, at the same time massing 300,000 troops near Gaza for what could be a ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu created a war Cabinet with former defense chief Benny Gantz, a centrist opposition National Unity Party leader, along with current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, so they could solely focus on combating Hamas after its shock attack on Israel last Saturday.

The unusual arrangement, with other Cabinet members from Netanyahu’s right-wing government apparently remaining in place, pieces together a degree of unity after years of bitterly divisive politics.