President Biden stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war in Gaza was a “mistake.” Speaking to Univision, a U.S. Spanish-language TV network, he said. “I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach.”
Biden added in the interview. “What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country.”
The remarks came one week after the president had a telephone conversation with Netanyahu last week where he stated that new measures to safeguard civilians and humanitarian workers needed to be put into place quickly if the United States was to continue supporting Israel in its Gaza conflict. This was the first time the US president had threatened to reconsider strategies if Israel did not prevent the death of civilians in Gaza. Biden has also made it clear that Israel needed to allow more food aid into Gaza.
The call had come after Israel had killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen last week. At the time Biden had said in a statement. “I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday. They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.”
Israel had apologised for the deaths, but the prime minister had said that this “happens in war.”
“Unfortunately, in the past day, there was a tragic event in which our forces unintentionally harmed non-combatants in the Gaza Strip. This happens in war. We are conducting a thorough inquiry and are in contact with the governments. We will do everything to prevent a recurrence,” he had said in a statement last week.
The standoff between Biden and Netanyahu threatens to undermine the US-Israel relationship. Israel has received more American aid than any other country since World War II, although annual assistance has been dwarfed for two years by funding and military equipment sent to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion. The US has also traditionally shielded Israel in the U.N. Security Council and vetoed three draft resolutions on the war in Gaza. It abstained last month when the Security Council demanded an immediate ceasefire.
(With inputs from Reuters)
