Today Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House for the first time since

2020 for separate meetings with President Biden and Vice President Harris.

He and President Biden also met with the families of Americans who have been held by Hamas in Gaza for the last 293 days.

That's as the administration pushes for a deal that would stop the war and release at least some of the hostages.

Nick Schifrin joins us now with the story.

Nick.

Jeff Netanyahu had the rare opportunity of meeting within a few hours today,

the commander-in-chief and the person running to replace him.

First he met President Biden in the Oval Office.

Biden laughed after Netanyahu called him a proud Irish American Zionist.

That's Biden laughing right there.

And later, he met with Vice President Harris.

After that meeting, she said that she defended

or she believed in the Israel's right to defend itself but also was concerned

about how Israel was conducting the war and he and she said that there were too many Palestinian civilians being killed.

Now, separately, there was a meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu

with the families of Americans who were held hostage.

You see that meeting right there.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said today a ceasefire hostage deal

was closer than before but was still not done.

There are gaps that remain.

And our team continues to work with our counterparts in the region

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