Biden says ‘working’ to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border

US President Joe Biden said Friday he was working to allow people to return to their homes on the Israeli-Lebanon border, in his first comments since a wave of explosions targeting the Hezbollah militia sent tensions soaring.

Biden added that it was crucial to keep pushing for a Gaza ceasefire to underpin regional peace, despite a media report that his administration had given up hope of securing a truce before he leaves office in January.

Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting in the White House, Biden told reporters he wanted to “make sure that the people in northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to go back to their homes, to go back safely.”

“And the Secretary of State, the secretary of defence, our whole team are working with the intelligence community to try to get that done. We’re going to keep at it until we get it done, but we’ve got a way to go,” Biden said.

It was Biden’s first reaction since the violence shifted dramatically from Gaza to Lebanon, with thousands of Hezbollah operatives’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploding earlier this week.

The blasts – which Hezbollah blamed on Israel – killed 37 people including children and wounded thousands more. Israel has not commented on the explosions.

Months of near-daily border clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel, forcing thousands on both sides to flee their homes.

Biden also denied that a ceasefire to end Israel’s war in Gaza following the Hamas October 7 attacks was unrealistic, following a Wall Street Journal report that officials believe is now unlikely.

“If I ever said it’s not realistic, we might as well leave. A lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done. We have to keep at it,” Biden said.