On Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the parents of Israeli hostage, Omer Nutra, took the stage.

Our son, Omer, is an American citizen.

His mother, Orna, spoke about the agony she's faced in the more than 280 days that he's been held captive in Gaza.

Imagine over nine months not knowing whether your son is alive, waking up every morning, praying that he, too, is still waking up every morning, that he is strong and is surviving.

His father Ronan led the Pfizer Forum crowd in a chant that has become commonplace in Israel since October seventh. Stand with us.

Bring them home. Bring them home.

Bring them home. Obviously, this was a friendly audience. Republicans have been steadfast in their support of Israel since the Hamas attacks, which killed more than 1,200 people. But this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to head to Washington to address Congress. Us, and the reception there will be decidedly mixed. My guest today is CNN Jerusalem correspondent, Jeremy Diamond. We're going to talk about the tricky timing of the trip for both Netanyahu and President Joe Biden. From CNN, this is One Thing. I'm David Ryan.

So, Jeremy, there's been a lot going on in the US the last couple of weeks, to say the very least, and the war in Gaza has taken a back seat. So can you catch us up on where things stand?

Yeah. I mean, there's no question that despite everything that's going on in the world, it certainly hasn't slowed down. Hundreds have been killed over the course of just this past week. If you look at the overall death toll in this war, we're talking about more than 38,000 people who are now dead, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. And that doesn't even include those who are still believed to be under the rubble. This past weekend, there were a couple of particularly deadly strikes that raised a lot of questions that brought a lot of attention to the Israeli military campaign.

Massive Israeli strikes on a humanitarian zone in Hanunis, part of Gaza. Palestinian officials say at least 90 people were killed and 300 more injured.

One of those is the one that the Israeli military says was targeting Hamas's number two leader in Gaza, Mohamed Deyf, And while Israeli leaders said that they were targeting him in the strike that killed over 90 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, they still, days later now, have yet to actually confirm whether or not he was killed. And Hamas, for its part, has been denying that he was killed.

Cnn analysis also shows that a US-made munition was used in this strike.

What is clear, though, is that there were civilians who were killed in that strike. One of them was 13-year-old Hameda Hamid. He was in a tent with his sister when he was killed by the blast, and his sister whaling over his body afterwards saying, They should have taken me instead of you.

And obviously, there are still concerns about hunger and medical supplies and all that stuff going on there. But what about ceasefire talks? Has there been any progress there?

Well, two weeks since Israel and Hamas basically struck a framework agreement moving from the phase that they had been stuck in for months to moving now into this detailed negotiations phase. We've heard of talks in Kyra, we've heard of talks in Doha Qatar, we've heard progress, we've heard of hurdles that are coming up, but there's no sense right now that the parties are on the cusp of a deal. We heard that the CIA believes that Yaya Sinwar, Hamas's leader in Gaza, is facing growing pressure from his own military commanders to accept a ceasefire deal. There's no question that the Israeli Prime Minister is also under pressure to accept a deal from the families of the hostages. But he's also, of course, under pressure from the right flank of his government, those far-right allies who are keeping him in power not to move forward with a deal.. While publicly, the Israeli Prime Minister says that he won't move, quote, one millimeter from the proposal that has been on the table now, that Israeli proposal that President Biden detailed in a speech a while ago, the Israeli Prime Minister privately appears to be reversing on at least one key Israeli concession, insisting on no armed men being allowed into Northern Gaza, which contradicts that proposal, which would allow for totally unfettered, unchecked access for Palestinians to go to Northern Gaza.

There are certainly questions about Netanyahu's commitment to actually achieving a a deal. He says that he wants a deal, but he is also insisting publicly that he will not accept a deal that won't allow Israel to return to the fight.

Right. There's talked by some that Netanyahu doesn't want a deal so that he could secure his political survival, right?

Yeah, that has hung in the air around Netanyahu since the earliest days of these negotiations. There's no question that right now, especially as it seems like both Hamas and Israel are fairly close to a deal, having effectively agreed to a framework agreement, just the details, which are very thorny, very contentious, that still need to be worked out. There is a sense that the Israeli Prime Minister is perhaps trying to find a way not to get to a deal. We can't confirm that to the fullest extent of those allegations, but there's no question that if he does reach a deal, there is the distinct possibility that Betzal El Smotrich, Itamar Benkvier, those members of the far right, could pull their support and collapse his government. All of this, of course, is against the backdrop that the Israeli Prime Minister, who just days ago was already talking about how he's resisted US pressure, is now set to head to Washington to meet with President Biden.

So, Jeremy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming to Washington, DC, this week at this tense moment with the war still raging in Gaza. Why now for a visit like this?

Well, a bipartisan group of lawmakers invited him back in June to address a joint meeting of Congress. It was actually initiated by the Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson, who very much, of course, wants to show off his and his caucuses pro-Israel bonafides. But there's no question that it comes at an interesting time. We were just talking about those ceasefire negotiations that are still ongoing. No sense that there will be a deal before the Israeli Prime Minister arrives in Washington. Of course, the Israeli Prime Minister is still using the fact that he's resisting US political pressure, including directly from President Biden, as a political talking point in Israel to show that he's tough, even on allies who are trying to get him to stop the war. He was talking, for example, about how he told Biden, We have no choice. We have to enter Mr. Rafa. Look, this is a relationship between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu that has certainly frayed over the course of the last several months.

I know that you have paused, Mr. President, shipments of 2,000-pound US bombs to Israel due to concern that they could be used in any offensive on Rafa. Have those bombs, those powerful 2000 pound bombs, been used to kill civilians in Gaza?

Civiliens have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers.

President Biden took the fairly extraordinary step of stopping certain weapons shipments to Israel, those 2,000-pound bombs which are still on hold. He's released another shipment that was also on hold, those 500 pound bombs, to be able to be shipped to Israel. But it's clear that Biden and Netanyahu are in very different places as it relates to how the Israeli military is carrying out its war in Gaza. That will certainly play out as the Israeli Prime Minister gives his speech to Congress. It will be very interesting to see both how he walks that balance, but also how Democrats in Congress also react to his speech.

Right. Because I mean, before Biden's disastrous debate, his handling of the war in Gaza was one of his biggest political vulnerabilities with Democrats. Like he was heckled constantly at political events. You the White House before being posted in Jerusalem. So how is Biden grappling with this long time relationship that he's had with Netanyahu as he continues to hear calls for him to step aside as the Democratic nominee?

Yeah. I mean, I think that Netanyahu's visit is almost more challenging for President Biden to have to walk a tight rope on rather than the Israeli Prime Minister who has his own domestic and foreign political interests at hand here. President Biden He's going to have to decide what tone he wants to take with the Israeli Prime Minister when they meet, how he reacts to his speech to Congress as he's in the full throes of this 2024 presidential campaign. As you said, he's faced enormous pressure from his Democratic base to withdraw support from Israel, to stop providing weapons, to stop providing funding for Israel's war aims in Gaza.

We saved Israel. We are the as a producer of support for Israel of anyone in the world. And so there are two different things. Hamas cannot be allowed to be continued.

We continue- And President Biden, we've heard him in the debate. We've heard him in subsequent interviews, really struggling, I think, to both lay out his strong support for Israel, but also make clear that he has sought to stand up for innocent Palestinians in Gaza by trying to sway the conduct of the Israeli government.

In Israel, we're trying to say the only Everything I've denied Israel was 2000 pound bombs. They don't work very well in populated areas. They kill a lot of innocent people.

I don't think he's been very successful in making that case so far, and this will certainly be another test, another challenge for him with the Israeli Prime Minister in Washington.

It's like if you're Biden, though, hanging on for your political life, why not take this moment and stand up against Netanyahu and get that goodwill from your base? Is that something that would even be on the Look, I don't know that that will do anything to address the concerns about his age that he's currently facing, right?

So I don't know that it solves that problem. And at the same time, I think it's important to understand that as Biden himself has said, he is a committed Zionist.

You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. And a Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how they've been persecuted.

Are you a Zionist?

Yes.

He is a committed supporter of the state of Israel, feels it in his bones, as he says. I think this has been challenging for him because even standing up to Israel in the way that he has so far, which certainly isn't as far as many in the democratic base would like to see, even that, I think, has been challenging and perhaps even counterintuitive for Biden, but certainly something that he and his staff have felt is necessary as the death toll in Gaza and the civilian death toll in particular. Has only climbed.

For Netanyahu, what is he hoping to get out of a visit like this, or is this just another opportunity to show strength on his part?

I think Netanyahu needs to do two things. I mean, on the one hand, he wants to show that he has this strong partnership with the United States. He wants to show people in Israel that despite the pressure, despite the criticism that has flown back and forth, that he can still have an effective relationship with President Biden and with US lawmakers. At the same time, he's also going to want to show Israeli domestic political interests. He's going to want to show his allies in government that he is still sticking to his guns as it relates to the necessity of this war in Gaza, regardless of the pressure that he faces, and that he can even make that case in Washington before the President, before lawmakers who have been critical of him. But we will see. Netanyahu has brought surprises before, and he certainly could do so again.

A tricky time for both these leaders, as you said. We'll see what happens. Jeremy, thank you.

Thanks, David.

One Thing is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Paula Ortiz and me, David Reind. Our senior producer is Fez Jamil. Our supervising producer is Greg Peppers. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dizula is our technical director, and Steve Littai is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Haley Thomas, Alex Manessari, Robert Mathers, John Dianora, Lanie Steinhart, Jamie Sandrace, Nicole Pessereau, and Lisa Namarau. Special thanks to Caroline Patterson, Andrew Cary, and Katie Hinman. We'll be back on Wednesday. I'll talk to you then.