Israel launches new strikes in Gaza after Biden criticism
Israeli forces carried out deadly air strikes on Gaza on Friday, hours after US President Joe Biden described the military response to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian territory’s ruling Hamas movement as “over the top”.
Israel pressed on with its bombing campaign as diplomats sought to salvage ceasefire talks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Hamas proposal that also envisaged the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.
The United States hopes to secure a pause in fighting beforeIsrael carries out a threatened ground assault on the southern city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering near the border with Egypt.
Palestinian health officials said at least 15 people were killed in the latest air strikes, including eight in Rafah, the last refuge for many Gazans displaced as Israeli’s offensive advanced southwards through the narrow coastal enclave.
Salem El-Rayyes, a Palestinian freelance journalist living at a camp for displaced people, said children were among those killed when an Israeli missile slammed into a house in an area nearby.
Washington warned on Thursday that any Israeli military operation launched in Rafah without due consideration for the plight of civilians would be a disaster, and said it would not support it.
Though the US is Israel’s most important ally, it has urged Israel to scale down its all-out war into a more targeted campaign against Hamas leaders.
In some of his sharpest public criticism to date of Netanyahu’s government, Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday: “I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top.”
Biden said he has been pushing for a deal to normalise Saudi Arabia-Israel relations, increase the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Palestinian civilians, and pause fighting for a time to allow the release of hostages
Gaza’s health ministry said on Friday that at least 27,947 Palestinians had been confirmed killed in the conflict, 107 of them in the previous 24 hours, and 67,459 injured.
It says many more could still be buried under the rubble from the Israeli offensive - launched after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.