Biden says Netanyahu's approach to war is wrong

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TEL AVIV, Israel – US President Joe Biden has called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza a mistake and called on his government to flood the besieged territory with aid, press Israel for a ceasefire and widen the rift. between two trusted allies.

Palestinians in Gaza began the Eid al-Fitr holiday peacefully, with parents visiting the graves of their sons and daughters killed in the war. During the three-day holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims often visit their loved ones' resting places after morning prayers.

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At a cemetery in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, Samahir Za'nin crouches over the tombstone of his 20-year-old son, who was killed in an air strike while he was walking in the city in January. “His Eid holiday, God willing, is in heaven,” he said.

Biden has been an outspoken supporter of Israel's war against Hamas since the militant group launched its deadly attack on October 7. But in recent weeks, his patience with Netanyahu appears to be waning, and his administration has taken a hard line against Israel. the countries' decades-long alliance and deepening Israel's war-related international isolation.

The most serious disagreement was over Israel's plan to attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and the row has since escalated, escalating last week after an Israeli air force strike on an aid convoy killed seven workers at the food charity World Central Kitchen. most are foreigners. Israel said the death was not intentional, but Biden was furious.

Biden's comments in an interview aired Tuesday night, two days after the WCK strike, underscored the rift between Israel and the United States over humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, where the month-long war has led to warnings of famine.

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“What he's doing is wrong. I don't agree with his point of view,” Biden told Spanish-language television station Univision.

He was asked if Netanyahu would prioritize his own political survival over the national interest.

Biden said Israel must agree to a cease-fire, provide aid to flood-ravaged Gaza within the next six to eight weeks, and help distribute aid to other countries in the region. “It has to be done now,” he said.

The famine in Gaza has overshadowed the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the usual joyous holiday when families celebrate the end of Ramadan.

In the early days of the war, Israel suspended aid deliveries to Gaza, but slowly increased the number of trucks allowed into the territory under U.S. pressure. However, aid groups have complained that supplies are not reaching desperate people quickly enough, blaming Israel's restrictions and countries resorting to airdrops and other means of delivering them by sea.

Israel says it has steadily increased aid during the war, opening more entry points for trucks to enter and reach the worst-hit areas, such as northern Gaza, which was Israel's first target during the war.

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Israel accuses aid groups of being too slow to deliver aid after entering the Gaza Strip. The groups say logistical problems and a precarious security situation – highlighted by the WCK strike – make aid delivery difficult.

Israel and Hamas are currently negotiating a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages captured by Hamas and others who crossed the border on October 7. The return of Palestinians to the northern Gaza Strip. Netanyahu's Security Cabinet met late Tuesday to discuss the hostage negotiations, but made no decision.

Netanyahu vowed to “totally win” the war, vowing to destroy Hamas' military and governance capabilities to prevent a repeat of the October 7 attacks and return the hostages. He said victory must include an assault on Rafah, which Israel considers Hamas's last major stronghold, but where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people now seek refuge.

In the six months since the war began, Israel has become increasingly isolated, even as its closest ally is increasingly voicing its displeasure at the war's direction and long-time trading partners such as Turkey are taking potentially heavy economic steps to show concern.

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Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, is under pressure to clarify his vision for post-war Gaza. But critics say he is delaying because he does not want to anger his ultra-nationalist governing partners, who support the settlement of the Gaza Strip, from which Israel withdrew in 2005, an idea rejected by Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's ruling partners also oppose making significant concessions to Hamas in the ongoing negotiations. They have threatened to quit the government – a move that could lead to the collapse of the ruling coalition and the start of new elections.

“If the prime minister thinks there's going to be an unthinkable deal here, it won't go through,” Limor Sonn Har Melek, a lawmaker from the hardline Jewish Power party, told Israel Radio. . “If we understood that ending this war meant surrendering to Hamas, we wouldn't be there.”

Israel launched the war in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas in which the militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took nearly 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

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Gaza's health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel has not proven that it has killed about 12,000 militants.

The war led to a humanitarian disaster. Most of the territory's population has been displaced, and large parts of Gaza's urban landscape have been leveled during the fighting, leaving many neighborhoods uninhabitable.

Shurafa reported from the city of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip. Associated Press writer Joseph Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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