In the phone call, the US president called the attacks on humanitarian workers “unacceptable” and warned that his country’s policy toward Israel will depend on immediate action on the protection of Palestinian civilians.
Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone on Thursday, just days after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers in the Gaza Strip and further complicated already tense relations between the two leaders.
Biden “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of humanitarian aid workers,” the White House said in a statement after the call.
Biden “made clear that US policy toward Gaza will be determined by our assessment of immediate Israeli action on these steps.”
Biden also told Netanyahu that “a ceasefire is essential” and called on Israel to reach an agreement “without delay,” the White House said.
The conversation occurs while World Central Kitchen, a group founded by chef José Andrés to provide food to areas affected by disasters, demands an investigation into the event that killed its staff, including a US citizen.
Israel has said it was a mistake and has launched an investigation into the incident.
The White House has said it has no plans to conduct its own investigation, although it called on Israel to do more to prevent deaths and injuries to innocent civilians in its military operation in Gaza.
Biden was expected to reiterate to Netanyahu his concerns about Israeli plans to launch an operation in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, where Israel says the remaining battalions of the Hamas group are located, and where some 1.5 million Palestinians They have sought refuge. Vice President Kamala Harris joined the call as well.
Despite the discrepancies, the United States has continued to provide weapons and ammunition to Israel, including requests that had already been approved a long time ago but had not been completed. On Monday, the “Daily List” of ammunition transfers included the sale to Israel of more than 1,000 500-pound (225 kilo) bombs and more than 1,000 1,000-pound (450 kilo) bombs.
Austin-Gallant meeting, focusing on Rafah
The head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, also expressed his “outrage” at the murders of the aid workers – which Israel has admitted – in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
Austin stressed the need to protect aid workers and civilians and to “rapidly increase aid” to Gaza, “particularly to communities in northern Gaza that are at risk of famine,” according to the Pentagon.
Austin stated that the “tragedy reinforced concerns expressed about a possible Israeli military operation in Rafah, specifically focusing on the need to ensure the evacuation of Palestinian civilians and the flow of humanitarian aid.”
Biden and his administration have been publicly and privately urging Israel for months to refrain from a large-scale raid on Rafah without a credible plan to relocate and safeguard non-combatants.
Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas, including in Rafah, and bring hostages home, while pledging to first move the city’s more than one million civilians out of harm’s way.
The Israeli military stated that Gallant and Austin had discussed “plans to expand operations to address Hamas’ remaining battalions and military capabilities.”
The threat of Iran
There was also talk of “the threat posed by Iran and its indirect activities.”
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promised in a message on social media that “with God’s help we will make the Zionists repent of their crime of aggression against the Iranian consulate in Damascus.”
The Israeli military said that after an “assessment of the situation, it was decided to increase strength and recruit reserve soldiers.”
The military also said that “leaves for all combat units will be temporarily suspended,” and media reported that more reservists were being called up “against the backdrop of visible threats from Iran.”
Growing pressure on Netanyahu
During the war, Netanyahu has faced intense domestic pressure from the families and supporters of hostages still held in Gaza, and from a resurgent anti-government protest movement.
At a street protest in Tel Aviv to draw attention to the hostage crisis, banners warning “your time is up” and a gagged man with his hands tied with wire appeared.
War cabinet member Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s centrist political rival, has demanded that early elections be held in September, a request rejected by the prime minister’s right-wing Likud party.
The bloodiest Gaza war in history began with the Hamas attack on October 7, which killed about 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation campaign has killed at least 33,037 people, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Palestinian terrorists also took more than 250 hostages on October 7, and 130 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the military says have died.
Talks for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages have stalled, with both sides blaming each other.
An informed Hamas source told AFP that “there is nothing new in the latest round of negotiations, and the occupation (Israel) remains stubborn, dragging its feet and disrupting any ceasefire agreement.”
Amid rising tensions, Israeli security services claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate the Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads the Jewish Power party, and attack other targets.
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