Biden prods Netanyahu to open Gaza aid routes
Israel’s prime minister cannot afford a policy shift by the US amid mounting pressure for him to step down.
US President Joe Biden listens to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he joins a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv on 18 October 2023. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
A phoned “request” by United States President Joe Biden was too hard to ignore and resist for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hours after the tense 30-minute call on Thursday, the prime minister’s office announced the opening of more aid routes into blockaded Gaza.
Biden’s reported threat to change Washington’s policy over the Gaza war prodded the hawkish Netanyahu, who vowed to destroy Hamas terrorists in Gaza at all cost, to soften his hardline stance against Palestinians.
Biden told Netanyahu that US policy on Israel was dependent on the protection of civilians and aid workers in Gaza.
“The strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to a White House readout of their call.
Biden also “made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action” to improve the humanitarian situation.
Israel’s war cabinet authorized “temporary” aid deliveries via the Ashdod Port and the Erez land crossing, as well as increased deliveries from neighboring Jordan at the Kerem Shalom crossing, Netanyahu’s office said.
Israel has come under mounting international pressure over the toll inflicted by its six-month war on Hamas terrorists, and drawn increasingly tough rebuke from main backer Washington.
Since the 7 October attacks that launched the war with Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 33,037 people, according to the health ministry in Gaza, and sparked warnings about catastrophic hunger.
Palestinians in northern Gaza have had to survive on an average of just 245 calories per day — less than a can of beans — since January, according to Oxfam.
Netanyahu has pledged to move more than one million civilians in Rafah city out of harm’s way first.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said the deadly strike on a convoy of the World Central Kitchen staff killing seven of the aid organization’s staff had reinforced the expressed concern over a potential Israeli military operation in Rafah.