WASHINGTON

A group of pro-Palestine protestors demonstrated Thursday during a White House meeting between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The protestors gathered outside the executive mansion near Lafayette Park and chanted slogans in solidarity with Palestine. They referred to Netanyahu as a "war criminal" and demanded an end to the Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip.

The meeting came one day after Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress which was also protested by thousands in Washington.

Netanyahu will later meet Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the potential Democratic presidential nominee in the November presidential elections. The Israeli prime minister will also meet Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and the former president, in the state of Florida.

The White House said Biden will press for an elusive cease-fire in Gaza.

The White House visit is Netanyahu's first since Biden assumed office in 2021 amid repeated rifts between the allies. But international pressure for a cease-fire to end the bloodshed and destruction in Gaza has continued to mount as the death toll rapidly approaches 40,000.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters Wednesday that an agreement "is in the closing stages" and negotiators are reaching a point where "we believe a deal is closable, and it’s time to move to close that agreement."