United States President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday (Feb 11), that Israel should not proceed with a military operation in Gaza’s Rafah without a plan to ensure the safety of around one million people taking shelter there, said the White House.
The conversation came shortly after Netanyahu, on Sunday said that he has not spoken to Biden since he called Israel’s military operations “over the top” last week.
What did Biden and Netanyahu talk about?
The US president reaffirmed the shared goal of defeating the Palestinian militant group Hamas and ensuring the long-term security of Israel but also called for “urgent and specific steps” to increase the amount of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians trapped in Gaza, said the White House in a statement.
The aid agencies in Gaza’s Rafah have warned that a military operation in the area located in the southern part of Gaza on the border with Egypt would be catastrophic.
Biden told Netanyahu that a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there,” the White House said.
The two leaders also discussed the ongoing efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages taken by Hamas and both agreed to remain in close contact.
‘Over the top’
In an interview, earlier on Sunday, the Israeli PM said that he has not spoken to the US president since he suggested Israel’s military response in Gaza has been “over the top,” last week, and is seeking a “sustained pause in the fighting” to help Palestinians in Gaza.
“I appreciate President Biden’s support for Israel since the beginning of the war. I don’t know exactly what he meant by that,” said Netanyahu in a recent interview.
WATCH | Israel-Hamas war: UN says Palestinian civilians in Rafah require protection
Netanyahu’s remarks come days after Biden, on Thursday (Feb 8), said “I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top.”
He also spoke about how he has been pushing for a deal to normalise ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, increased humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and a temporary pause in fighting to allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas.
“I’m pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire,” Biden told reporters at the White House. He added, “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and it’s gotta stop.”
The remarks were seen as the sharpest criticism of Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel which sparked the war in Gaza.
The Biden administration’s support for Israel amid the mounting death toll and deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave has led to weeks of protests across the US.
Notably, the US president has been a staunch supporter of Israel, but the recent remarks mark a shift in the rhetoric of the Biden administration which has long supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
Biden’s mounting frustration with Netanyahu?
A report by the Washington Post, on Sunday, citing several people familiar with discussions between Biden and his top aides said they are closer to a “breach” with Netanyahu than at any time since the beginning of the war.
According to the report, the US president no longer views the Israeli PM as a ‘productive partner’ who can be ‘influenced even in private’.
Therefore, ‘mounting frustration’ with Netanyahu has prompted some of Biden’s aides to urge him to be more publicly critical of the Israeli PM, reported the WaPo citing six people familiar with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Just last week, on Wednesday (Feb 7), Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ latest offer for a ceasefire and insisted that the country’s total victory in Gaza is within reach, a move that reportedly angered US officials.
The rejection also came after the Israeli PM held talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who was in the midst of his 5th visit to the region to negotiate the new peace agreement which was turned down by Netanyahu.
(With inputs from agencies)
Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
