"No. What I have indicated to him is that if that's possible to get these folks out safely, that's what he should do, but I did not demand it. I pointed it out to him," Biden said during a press conference when asked whether he demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delay the planned ground invasion of Gaza.
Earlier on Wednesday, media reported that the United States urged Israel to delay its ground operation in Gaza so that Washington could deploy additional air defense assets throughout the Middle East in anticipation of an escalation of attacks against US forces in the region.