Back with the Crisis:

This REPORT is from early this morning by CNN

Devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war on Hamas

President Joe Biden said Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are “prepared to fully recognize Israel” during remarks at an off-camera fundraiser Thursday night, according to reporters in the room.

Biden repeated calls for a “post-Gaza plan” for Israel, including “a train to a two-state solution.”

The remarks reflect Biden’s increased willingness to publicly call for Israel to increase efforts to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

"I won't go into detail now. But look, I've been working with the Saudis and with all the other Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan and Qatar. They're prepared to fully recognize Israel, fully recognize Israel for the first time,” Biden said, according to reports from journalists in the room.
“But there has to be a post-Gaza plan, and there has to be a train to a two-state solution, it doesn't have to occur today, but there has to be a progression, and I think we can do that,” Biden said.

Arab states offered to recognize Israel in 2002 in exchange for a Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel rejected the proposal then.

The fundraiser, which featured Biden in conversation with former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, was interrupted at least four times by protesters, with at least three calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“That's alright. Let them go. There's a lot of people who are very, very — there are too many innocent victims, Israeli and Palestinian. We've got to get more food and medicine, supplies in to the Palestinians,” Biden said, according to reports.
“But we can't forget, Israel is in a position where its very existence is at stake. You have to have all those people. They weren't killed. They were massacred. They were massacred.”