Amid pressure, Biden backs cease-fire in call with Israel's Netanyahu

As the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, enters a second week, President Joe Biden slotxo online is now backing a cease-fire as critics urge him to take a more active role in addressing the decades-old conflict between the. Israelis and Palestinians.

During a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, Biden for the first time "expressed his support for a cease-fire and discussed U.S. engagement with Egypt and other partners towards that end," according to the White House.

An increasingly vocal wing of Biden's own party has been pressing him to pressure Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes on Gaza. On Sunday, 29 Democratic senators issued a joint statement urging an "immediate cease-fire," as did the top Republican and Democratic senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Mideast subcommittee.

Biden and Netanyahu have spoken three times in the last week now, and while the president now supports a cease-fire, it's unclear whether the US has any proposal on the table or will exert pressure on Israel to agree to one - something Netanyahu signaled. Monday he would not agree to.

In the last 48 hours, the U.S. has escalated its "quiet, intensive diplomacy," in Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan's words, to end the violence. He and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a series of calls on Monday, as U.S. envoy Hady Amr met with Palestinian leadership in the West Bank Monday.