From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is a Daily.

Today, as the United States tries to de-escalate the war between Hamas and Israel,

a look at the complicated personal history and delicate diplomacy between President Biden

and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kevin Rus spoke with our colleague in Washington,

Michael Crowley.

It's Thursday, May 20th.

Michael, it's been more than a week since this latest escalation between Israel and Hamas

that has left more than 200 people dead, including dozens of children, the majority of the victims

Palestinians. In any conflict like this, the US typically wants it to be over as soon as possible

so that they can minimize the death toll, the number of people who are hurt or injured,

the amount of damage. But it wasn't until this week that we heard from President Biden

that he supported a ceasefire. So what's the story behind that?

So President Biden has been very cautious in his approach to this conflict and really has

repeatedly stressed his support for Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas missile attacks.

And that is very much in line with traditional US policy.

And so President Biden spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu twice in a conversation with Netanyahu

on Tuesday. Biden did use the phrase ceasefire, but stopped short of calling for one or calling

for an immediate one. All he would say is that he supported a ceasefire. And then on Wednesday,

we saw a statement that went a little bit farther. And now President Biden is saying that he

expects a de-escalation on the path to a ceasefire. So he is creeping closer to this call for an

immediate ceasefire. But again, in keeping with this supportive posture he's been taking

and an apparent effort to preserve his relationship with the Israeli leader, he is not going as far

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