Biden calls Netanyahu’s approach to war a ‘mistake’
President Joe Biden says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war against Hamas is mistaken.
Biden’s remarks in a television interview that aired late Tuesday deepen an already growing rift between the two staunch allies over the war, now in its seventh month. Those disagreements have compounded over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s expected offensive in the city of Rafah and Israel’s recent strike on a humanitarian convoy, which killed seven aid workers, most of them foreigners.
“What he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden told U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision in an interview conducted April 3, two days after the strike on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy. He was responding to a question about whether Netanyahu was letting political considerations steer his decision-making in the war.
Biden said Israel should agree to a cease-fire, flood beleaguered Gaza with aid for the next six to eight weeks and allow regional countries to help distribute the aid. “It should be done now,” he said.
International efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas are taking place in Cairo this week.
Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza over the past six months have killed at least 33,360 Palestinians and wounded 74,993, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
The Biden administration was outspoken in its support for Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, but in recent weeks has stepped up criticism of Israel’s approach to the war.
Israel and Hamas still disagree on key terms of a possible ceasefire deal.
Israel airstrike kills 11 at home in Gaza
An Israeli airstrike hit a home in central Gaza on Tuesday evening, killing at least 11 people, including seven women and children, hospital officials said.
After the strike hit in the town of Zawaida, Associated Press footage showed one man carrying the limp body of a little girl and laying her with the bodies of other dead children on the floor at the main hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah. Hospital officials said the dead included five children and two women.
The strike came as the Israeli military withdrew its forces from the southern city of Khan Younis this week, ending a monthslong ground assault that left large parts of the city in ruins. Still, airstrikes have continued in the past days, including in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where Israel says it plans to launch its next ground assault.
Hostage families meet with Harris
Several family members of hostages held by Hamas met with
Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on Tuesday and urged for a deal that would release their loved ones and implement a temporary cease-fire in Gaza.
“The only hope for peace is through the release of all the hostages now,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen. On a potential hostage agreement, Dekel-Chen stressed that the world is waiting for “Hamas to get to yes.”
Rachel Goldberg, the mother of American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, called the meeting with Harris “very productive.” She expressed gratitude to the White House and lawmakers for their support, but added: “We need results. We need our people home.”