Middle East crisis: Ramadan begins as hunger and fear haunt Gaza
A day after President Biden claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu dismissed that claim as “wrong,” escalating the increasingly public dispute between the leaders.
Mr Netanyahu, in a interview with Politicschallenged Mr. Biden’s assessment of Israel’s military strategy in the Gaza Strip, saying his policies represented what the “overwhelming majority” of Israelis wanted.
“I don’t know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant that I am pursuing private policies against the majority, the wishes of the majority of Israelis, and that this is detrimental to Israel’s interests, then he is wrong. on both counts,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
He added: “It is a policy that is supported by the overwhelming majority of Israelis. They support the action we are taking to destroy Hamas’ remaining terrorist battalions.”
Mr Netanyahu was responding to comments Mr Biden made on Saturday in a interview with MSNBC. Mr Biden reprimanded Mr Netanyahu over the rising number of civilian casualties in Gaza, while reaffirming US support for Israel.
“He has the right to defend Israel, the right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost as a result of the actions taken,” Mr. Biden said.
“In my opinion, he is hurting Israel more than he is helping Israel,” Mr. Biden said, appearing to refer to Mr. Netanyahu’s military strategy. “It goes against what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake. That is why I want to see a ceasefire.”
When asked by the interviewer, Jonathan Capehart, whether he had a “red line” that Mr. Netanyahu should not cross, such as a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, Mr. Biden gave a muddled answer but said that “the defense of Israel still critical.”
“He cannot allow another 30,000 Palestinians to be killed as a result” of his pursuit of Hamas, the president said, referring to Mr. Netanyahu.
“There are other ways to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas, to achieve it,” he added.
Mr. Biden provided no details. The Gaza Health Ministry has said more than 31,000 people have been killed in the enclave since Israel started the war in response to Hamas attacks on October 7.
But the president’s comments once again underscored the delicate position the United States finds itself in: arming Israel while providing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Mr Biden has been more forceful in recent days about the plight of civilians in Gaza, urging Mr Netanyahu not to go ahead with his stated plans to launch a major ground offensive in Rafah without a plan to kill those who shelter there to protect. More than a million Gazans have sought refuge in the city, many of whom have been displaced by orders from the Israeli army to move to so-called safe zones.
In the interview with Politico, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that Israel still plans to invade Rafah: “We are going there. We’re not leaving. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is: October 7 will not happen again. It will never happen again.”
When asked about Mr Biden’s comments, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declined to say what they suggested about the US-Israel relationship.
“I try to distinguish between rhetoric and essence: the objectives of the war and the State of Israel are simple – they are to release all hostages and dismantle Hamas’s military and leadership power,” Mr. Katz told Kan, the Israeli public. radio network on Sundays. “The United States supports these goals, as Biden emphasized yesterday.”
He added that Israel had said there would be a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah before a ground invasion, and reiterated that his country’s army “has not deliberately harmed civilians.”
The drive for Rafah has done that drawn warnings from the United States and other allies on the potential humanitarian costs. The United Nations has said a ground invasion of Rafah could have “huge consequences for all of Gaza, including the hundreds of thousands at high risk of starvation and famine in the north.”
Under Mr. Biden, U.S. military cargo planes have dropped food, water and other aid into Gaza a handful of times in recent days. The last airdrop took place on Sunday, then said the US military it dropped meals along with rice, flour and other goods in northern Gaza.
Additionally, the Biden administration has announced plans to build a floating pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver more supplies to the enclave.
But U.S. officials have acknowledged that cutting off air aid and building a pier will not be as effective as delivering supplies by land, an option that Israel has largely blocked.
Gabby Sobelman reporting contributed.