President Biden sharply escalated his criticism of Israel’s approach to the war against Hamas on Thursday, calling the military operations in Gaza “over the top” and saying the suffering of innocent people “must stop.”
Mr. Biden, who has strongly supported Israel’s right to respond to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack that killed an estimated 1,200 people, expressed growing impatience with the scale and duration of Israel’s response during an overnight meeting with reporters at the White House.
“I am of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, was excessive,” Mr. Biden said in response to questions at the end of the raucous session. to direct a special counsel report regarding the handling of classified documents. “I have pushed very hard, very hard, to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he added. “There are many innocent people who are starving. There are many innocent people who get into trouble and die. And it must stop.”
But even as he offered a sharp assessment of the latest events in the Middle East, he made the kind of mistake his staff hoped he would avoid, fielding questions about his age and memory, confusing the presidents of Egypt and Mexico.
“I think, as you know, initially the president of Mexico, Sisi, did not want to open the gate to allow humanitarian material in,” he said, referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, not Mexico. “I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi to open the gate from the Israeli side.”
Mr Biden’s comments revealed his growing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, known by his nickname Bibi, making public what had been clear privately for weeks. Mr Biden pressed the Israeli leader to take more care to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, where more than 27,000 people have been killed, according to health authorities in the Hamas strip, and to consider the creation of a Palestinian state after the war. IT IS DONE.
Mr Biden has come under huge pressure from the progressive wing of his party to rein in Mr Netanyahu, with protesters now regularly disrupting the president’s events and calling him names such as “Genocide Joe”. At the same time, Mr. Netanyahu, who is under fire for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, has tried to keep his right-wing coalition resisting Mr. Biden’s calls for a so-called two-state solution.
Mr. Netanyahu in recent days appeared to fend off efforts by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to broker a brokered deal with Hamas to secure the release of more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas in exchange for a long pause in the fighting. . Hamas had made “ridiculous demands” that if met would only “invite another massacre”, Mr Netanyahu said on Wednesday shortly after meeting Mr Blinken.
In the four months since the Hamas attack, Mr. Biden has tried to tread a careful line, stressing his unwavering support for Israel and his outrage at the killing of innocent Israelis while increasingly advising Mr. Netanyahu to exercise restraint. At one point, he complained about “indiscriminate” bombing by Israel, but he has generally toned down his views in public, occasionally letting other members of his administration speak more critically.
The president did not intend to address the situation Thursday night and was leaving the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House after his statement on the special counsel’s report when a reporter’s question prompted him to return to the lectern.
He cited his efforts to bring more humanitarian aid to Gaza, where much of the population has been displaced and is desperate for basic goods.
“I’m pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire,” he said. “I am working tirelessly on this agreement,” he added, because it could “lead to a permanent halt to the fighting and actions taking place in the Gaza Strip. Because I think if we can get the delay on that — the initial delay, I think we could extend it to increase the prospect of this battle in Gaza changing.”
He also said he believes Hamas may have staged its Oct. 7 attack to disrupt U.S. efforts to establish normal diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a project many believe would have transformed the region but could to have undermined the urgency of the Palestinian cause.
“I don’t have proof of what I’m going to say,” Mr. Biden said, “but it’s 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.
