US President Joe Biden has accused Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu of “hurting Israel” through his administration’s treatment of Palestinians.
In an interview to MSNBC, Biden said that he would not give up on the idea of a ceasefire ahead of Ramzan, which starts tomorrow.
Biden backed Netanyahu’s right to defend Israel and continue to pursue Hamas, but added that Tel Aviv must pay “more attention to the innocent lives being lost”.
“In my view he is hurting Israel, more than helping Israel,” Biden added, referring to Israel’s treatment on Palestinians.
On being asked what his “red line” with the Israeli PM would be, Biden said “There’s no red line [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons”.
However, he warned Israel that if it planned to invade Rafah, it would further strain the relation between Washington and Israel.
Tel Aviv’s response to Hamas’ invasion has led to the death of over 30,000 Palestinians and injuring over 67,000.
US vice-president Kamala Harris has earlier described the situation in Gaza as “inhumane”. She had urged the Israeli government to “significantly increase the flow of aid” into Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire.
“Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire. There is a deal on the table, and as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal. Let’s get a ceasefire,” Harris said.
Israel’s treatment of Palestinian refugees has led to increasing frustration between the US president and Netanyahu and this has led to a lot of democrat voters being “uncommitted” in the Democratic primaries.
Despite the US president’s shift in tone, his administration has turned down calls for a cut in billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.
Gaza has been relentlessly bombed by Israel since a Hamas attack on October 7 killed 1,160 people.
