News - Middle East: The embattled Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address US Congress on Wednesday to lobby for more support for his genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.

Netanyahu landed in Washington late on Monday on a three-day official visit, during which he plans to address the US Congress and meet senior US officials from both parties.

A meeting between the visiting Israeli premier and US President Joe Biden, who is still recovering from COVID-19, appears to be back on track, according to American media reports.

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, reportedly has so far refused to meet Netanyahu and Kamala Harris, who is likely to be the Democratic presidential nominee, has decided to skip the Israeli premier’s address to the US Congress.

US Senate foreign relations committee chairman Ben Cardin is going to preside over the address along with US House Speaker Mike Johnson after Harris decided to head to Indianapolis on the day.

This is the fourth time Netanyahu will be addressing the US Congress, more than any other foreign official in history. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke there three times.

The speech comes ahead of the November election in the US with calls mounting on the Biden administration to stop its support for Netanyahu’s regime amid the genocide in Gaza.

The day Netanyahu landed in Washington, the death toll in the besieged Palestinian territory surpassed 39,000, most of them children and women, according to the Gaza media office.