The president offered harsh criticism of the Israeli prime minister in an interview with Univision but stopped short of calling for a permanent ceasefire
President Joe Biden sharpened his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as demand grows for the U.S. to take concrete action against Israel’s brutal assault in Gaza.
In an interview with Univision set to air Tuesday night, Biden said he disagreed with how Netanyahu is handling Gaza, with over 30,000 Palestinians now dead after close to six months of conflict. Netanyahu has said he still plans to invade Rafah, the most populated city in Gaza near the southern border, and has largely seems to have ignored public and private criticism from Biden.
“I think what he’s doing is a mistake,” Biden said during his Univision appearance. “I don’t agree with his approach.”
Biden stopped short of calling for a permanent ceasefire, instead saying he advocates for an extended peace period to allow more food and medical aid to enter Gaza.
“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a cease-fire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden told Univision. “There’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now.”
The Biden administration approved over 2,000 additional bombs to be sent to Israel last last month. Last week, seven humanitarian aid workers with World Central Kitchen were killed by an Israeli air strike, leading to new calls for the U.S. to place conditions on the aid it’s sending to Israel.
Biden called Netanyahu directly days after the World Central Kitchen deaths. He made clear during the call that U.S. policy with Israel will be determined by its actions in Gaza, according to a White House readout of the call, which said that the president “emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable.”
