Middle East crisis: Biden intensifies criticism of Israel and calls Gaza response 'over the top'
President Biden sharply escalated his criticism of the Israeli approach the war against Hamas He called the military operations in Gaza “exaggerated” on Thursday and said the suffering of innocent people “must stop.”
Mr. Biden, who has strongly supported Israel's right to retaliate for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that killed an estimated 1,200 people, showed growing support during a late-night meeting with reporters at the White House impatience over the scale and duration of Israel's response.
“I believe, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been overblown,” Mr. Biden said in response to questions at the end of the meeting. the noisy sessionintended to address a special counsel's report on his handling of classified documents. “I pushed very hard, very hard to get humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he added. “There are many innocent people who are starving. There are many innocent people who are in trouble and dying. And it has to stop.”
But even as he delivered a sharp assessment of the latest events in the Middle East, he made the kind of mistake his staff had hoped to avoid, given questions about his age and memory, by pitting the presidents of Egypt and Mexico against each other. to cause confusion.
“I think that, as you know, the president of Mexico, Sisi, initially did not want to open the gate to let in humanitarian materials,” he said, referring to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt. not Mexico. “I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi to open the gate on the Israeli side.”
Biden's comments showed his growing frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, known by his nickname Bibi, who made public what had been privately clear for weeks. Mr Biden has urged the Israeli leader to take greater care to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, where health authorities say more than 27,000 people have been killed in the Hamas-run strip, and to support the creation of a Palestinian state after to consider the war. is over.
Biden is under immense pressure from the progressive wing of his own party to rein in Netanyahu, with protesters now regularly disrupting the president's events and taunting him as “Genocide Joe.” At the same time, Mr. Netanyahu, under fire for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, has sought to hold on to his right-wing coalition by pushing back against Mr. Biden's pleas for a so-called two-state solution.
Mr. Netanyahu appeared to do just that in recent days reject the efforts of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to broker a deal with Hamas through intermediaries to secure the release of more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas in exchange for a long break in the fighting. Hamas had made “ridiculous demands” that, if met, “would only lead to another bloodbath,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday shortly after the meeting with Mr Blinken.
In the four months since the Hamas attack, Mr. Biden has tried to walk a careful line, emphasizing his unwavering support for Israel and his shared outrage over the killings of innocent Israelis, while increasingly recommending that Mr. Netanyahu be reinstated to keep under control. At one point he complained about “indiscriminate” bombings by Israel, but by and large he has moderated his positions in public, sometimes leaving it to other members of his government to speak more critically.
The president had no intention of addressing the situation Thursday night and was leaving the White House diplomatic reception room after his statement on the special counsel's report when a reporter's question prompted him to return to the lectern.
He cited efforts to get more humanitarian aid to Gaza, where much of the population is displaced and desperate for basic goods.
“I am now trying very hard to end this ceasefire for hostages,” he said. “I have worked tirelessly on this deal,” he added, because it “could lead to a sustained lull in the fighting and actions taking place in the Gaza Strip. Because I think if we can get a delay on that – the initial delay – we can extend that so that we can increase the prospect of this fighting in Gaza turning around.”
He also said he believed Hamas launched its attack on October 7 to disrupt US efforts to establish normal diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a project that many believe would have transformed the region. but could have undermined the urgency of the Palestinian cause. .
“I have no proof of what I am about to say,” Mr. Biden said, “but it is not unreasonable to suspect that Hamas understood what was going to happen and wanted to break it up before it happened.”
Victoria Kim contributed reporting from Seoul.