2024-02-09T04:45:14+00:00
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/ The US President said that the Israeli military response in the Gaza Strip to the attack launched by Hamas against Israel “went too far.”
“I think, as you know, the response in Gaza has gone too far,” Biden said at a White House briefing, in some of his harshest criticism yet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
He added that he is pressing for increased humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, and for a ceasefire to allow the release of hostages held by Hamas.
“I’m pressing hard right now for a ceasefire related to this hostage situation,” Biden said. “There are too many innocent people starving, too many innocent people living in distress and dying, and it has to stop.”
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas militants attacked its south on October 7, which Israel says killed 1,200 people.
The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 27,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, with fears that thousands are buried under the rubble.
The US President’s statements coincided with the Israeli army’s intensification of its bombing of the border city of Rafah with Egypt in southern Gaza, to which more than half of the Strip’s population has been displaced.
US officials have issued their harshest criticism yet of civilian casualties in Gaza as Israel shifts its focus to Rafah.
“We would not support doing something like this without serious, credible planning because it involves over a million people who are sheltering there, and also without considering the implications for humanitarian assistance and the safe departure of foreigners,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters on Thursday.
Patel added that the United States “has not seen evidence that Israel had seriously planned such an operation.”
Fears that the Israeli army will launch a military operation in Rafah stem from repeated statements made by senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, regarding expanding military operations in the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.