“After seven weeks of struggling with a crisis that defies easy solutions, President Biden could take solace over the weekend in saving a single 4-year-old girl whose parents were killed in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel,” the New York Times reports.
“But gratifying as it was to secure the release of Avigail Idan from her Hamas captors on Sunday, the challenge for Mr. Biden going forward is not only to free the rest of the Americans being held hostage but to use the success of recent days to alter the trajectory of the war consuming Gaza.”
“At the president’s urging, the two sides were poised on Monday to extend the temporary pause in the war between Israel and Hamas two more days, according to Qatar, the Gulf emirate that has been serving as intermediary.”
Playbook: “A higher hurdle may be whether he can convince Israel to inflict fewer civilian casualties when the truce expires and bombings resume, potentially restarting an outpouring of progressive anger at Biden.”
