Israel goes ‘over-the-top’

BIDEN: ‘LOTS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE DYING – THE WAR HAS GOT TO STOP’

GAZA WAR

Israel’s military response in the Gaza Strip to the October attacks by Hamas has been “over-the-top” and has “got to stop”, says US President Joe Biden. “I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over-the-top,” the Democrat told reporters at the White House.

“There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying and it’s got to stop.”

American support for Israel’s war on the Palestinian militant group has sparked a flurry of attacks on US troops in the region, as well as criticism of the Biden administration at home and abroad.

Months of bombardment and siege have deepened a humanitarian crisis across Gaza.

But Biden, 81, said he had pushed to get humanitarian assistance into the territory.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi initially “did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in”, Biden said.

“I talked to him; I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi to open the gate on the Israeli side,” he continued, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard, to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October resulted in the deaths of 1 160 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.

Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas and launched air strikes and a ground offensive that have killed at least 27 840 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza, of whom 29 are believed to have died.

The war has sparked a surge in violence across the region by Iran-backed groups operating in solidarity with Hamas, drawing retaliatory attacks from Israel, the United States and its allies.

Hundreds of thousands of people’s lives are at risk in north and central Gaza because of a lack of food, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the last time the agency was allowed to deliver supplies to the area was more than two weeks ago.

Other agencies providing humanitarian aid also reported blocks on getting relief into the Palestinian territory, which has been bombarded by Israel since Hamas’ deadly attack.

“Since the beginning of the year, half of our aid mission requests to the north were denied,” Lazzarini wrote on X.

“The @UN has identified deep pockets of starvation and hunger in northern #Gaza where people are believed to be on the verge of famine. At least 300 000 people living in the area depend on our assistance for their survival.”

Israel, which has laid siege to the tiny, densely populated territory, ordered people living in north and central Gaza to move south as it goes after those responsible for the October attack.

More than half of Gaza’s estimated 2.4 million people are now crowded into the city of Rafah in the south, where Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered troops to prepare to attack.

Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, said there was now “enormous concern” about a looming offensive in Rafah, where the agency bases its operation for the whole of the Gaza Strip. –