U.S. President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days but nothing has been finalised, a senior administration official said Sunday. The news comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been traveling around the Mideast this past week trying to prevent the war with Hamas from igniting a broader regional conflict

In an interview on Sunday, the president warned Israel not to reoccupy Gaza, in his strongest public effort to hold Israel back.

“I think it’d be a big mistake,” Mr. Biden said. “Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas, and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again.”

Still, he said, “taking out the extremists … is a necessary requirement.”

– AP