“We are not a banana republic,” Netanyahu says, rejecting US criticism

The rift over the war in Gaza between Israel and the United States, its closest ally, widened on Sunday when Israel’s prime minister accused a senior US lawmaker of treating his country like a “banana republic.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under increasing pressure to negotiate a ceasefire, lashed out at Senator Chuck Schumer for his call for elections to be held in Israel when the war is over. In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Netanyahu suggested that Mr. Schumer, the Senate majority leader, was trying to overthrow his government and said his call for elections was “completely inappropriate.”

“That is something that Israel, the Israeli public, does on its own,” he said. “We are not a banana republic.”

On Thursday, Mr. Schumer, a New York Democrat and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, delivered a scathing speech in the Senate, accusing Mr. Netanyahu of putting his political survival ahead of “the best interests of the United States.” have let go. Israel” and that he is “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza.”

The speech was indicative of the widening rift between Israel and the United States over the war and growing frustrations in Washington over Mr. Netanyahu’s policies. President Biden praised Schumer’s speech, although he did not endorse the call for new elections.

One of the most controversial issues: how can we get food and aid into the Gaza Strip?

As the humanitarian crisis worsens, the United States this month began dropping food and water into the enclave. On Friday, a maritime aid shipment reached the coast of northern Gaza, the first in almost twenty years. A new shipment of essential goods is expected to leave soon Gaza from Cyprus.

In the coming weeks, the United States plans to build a floating dock off the coast of Gaza, which the White House says could eventually help deliver as many as two million meals a day to Gaza.

All these efforts are aimed at getting more aid to Gaza, where the United Nations says severe hunger and malnutrition are at alarming levels. But as welcome as the initiatives are, experts and humanitarian groups say the best way to prevent famine is to broker a ceasefire between the Israelis and Hamas, who attacked Israel on October 7, sparking the war initiated.

“We cannot increase aid to the level needed, and we cannot keep it safe for both the people delivering it and the people receiving it, while there is still an active war going on,” said Sarah Schiffling, an expert in the field of humanitarian aid. logistics and supply chains at the Hanken School of Economics in Finland.

Ceasefire talks are expected to accelerate in the coming days.

On Sunday, a second towing aid ship prepared to leave for Gaza when the founder of the food aid organization behind it, José Andrés, called for a ceasefire and said Israel should do more to prevent hunger in the embattled enclave.

“At the very least, if they don’t stop the military advance, to make sure that no one is hungry and that no one is without food and water,” he said in an appearance on NBC’s.Meet the press.”

“This is something that should happen overnight, but for political reasons I don’t think it’s happening there,” he added.

Mr. Andrés said he hoped to scale up his group’s activities to “bring enormous amounts of food to Gaza’s shores every day.”

Although the ships of World Central Kitchen, Mr Andrés’s charity, have attracted global attention in recent days, maritime deliveries have so far provided only a small portion of the aid the United Nations says is needed to prevent famine. He said land deliveries were undoubtedly needed, but his group did what it could.

“More is more,” he said.

The first ship, the Open Arms, which towed a barge to a makeshift jetty off the Gaza coast on Friday, brought the area the equivalent of about 10 truckloads of food – far less than the 500 trucks a day that aid groups say are needed.

Aid groups have called on Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza through more land crossings, saying only a flow of trucks – and not more attention-grabbing methods such as airdrops or ships – can sustain Gaza’s population. World Central Kitchen itself has sent more than 1,400 overland aid trucks to Gaza and opened more than 60 community kitchens in Gaza to serve hot meals, the report said.

Yet only about 150 trucks enter Gaza every day through the two open border crossings, according to U.N. data, due to a number of factors, including lengthy Israeli inspections to impose strict restrictions on what can enter Gaza.

The restrictions on these entry points have led to a scramble for creative solutions between donors such as the European Union, which helped establish the maritime route from Cyprus to Gaza, and the United States, which is spearheading efforts to establish a to build a temporary floating vessel. pier off the coast of Gaza to allow more deliveries by ship.

The US has also dropped aid. On Sunday, the US military dropped nearly 29,000 meals and 34,500 bottles of water in northern Gaza. said on social media. Little aid has arrived in the north since Israel’s attack on the area cut it off from the south early in the war.

In his remarks Sunday to his government, Mr. Netanyahu stressed that Israel would continue fighting in Gaza until a “complete victory,” and vowed that the army would invade Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have huddled in crowded shelters, tent camps and the homes of friends and relatives.

“We will operate in Rafah,” he said. “That is the only way to eliminate the rest of Hamas’ brigades of assassins, and that is the only way to apply the necessary military pressure to free all our hostages.”

He said Israel has approved the army’s plans to operate in Rafah, including measures to move the civilian population out of combat zones.

Mr. Biden has said Israel should not proceed with an operation in Rafah without “a credible and actionable plan to ensure the safety and support of the more than one million people sheltering there,” the White House said.

Displaced Palestinians in Rafah, weary from nearly six months of war, have said they are terrified that a ground invasion of the city could lead to massive civilian casualties.

Adam Ragon reported from Jerusalem, Vivian Yee from Cairo, and Gaya GuptaAnd David Segal From New York. Vivek Shankar And Minh Kim reporting contributed.