US sees Israeli decision to pull out of talks as overreaction

The United States is perplexed by Israel's abrupt decision on Monday to withdraw from scheduled talks this week about Gaza and considers it an overreaction to U.S. abstention from a UN vote, a U.S. official told reporters.

The United States is perplexed by Israel's abrupt decision on Monday to withdraw from scheduled talks this week about Gaza and considers it an overreaction to U.S. abstention from a UN vote, a U.S. official told reporters. The official told a small group of reporters that domestic political tensions in Israel probably were responsible for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision not to send an Israeli delegation to Washington for the talks.

President Joe Biden has no plans to call Netanyahu about the decision nor did Netanyahu call Biden about it in advance, the official added. (Reporting By Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)