2024-01-26T17:32:26+00:00
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/ Two US officials told Axios news website on Friday that President Biden last week pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, stressing that he would not participate in it for a year of war.
Biden’s comments during the leaders’ call last Friday reflect growing American concern about the continuation of the war, and the US president’s desire to see it end long before the November elections.
A Biden adviser told Axios that the White House is deeply concerned about losing young voters, many of whom oppose the president’s policy on the Gaza war.
A source close to the White House said Biden cannot afford for the war and the mounting death toll to continue to dominate the news as the election approaches.
The White House and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.
Timeline
A US official said that at least a third of Biden’s 40-minute call with Netanyahu on January 19 focused on the Israeli timetable for moving to low-intensity operations across the Gaza Strip and Israel’s war strategy as a whole.
Netanyahu had said the previous day that the war would continue “for several more months.”
Two U.S. officials said that Biden, in his conversation with the Israeli leader about the comment, urged Netanyahu to move more quickly toward low-intensity operations that would reduce civilian casualties.
US officials said Biden asked Netanyahu several times about his plan and strategy in Gaza, and said he did not understand the “end state” the Israeli leader envisions for the territory.
Netanyahu told Biden that the transition to low-intensity fighting had occurred in northern Gaza and would occur in the south, but Israel needed more time than it initially thought, the officials added.
Netanyahu also said that Hamas would return if the Israeli army left Gaza now.
3 requests
During the call, Biden asked Netanyahu to allow a UN mission into northern Gaza to assess conditions for the future return of Palestinian civilians, according to a source familiar with the conversation.
He also requested that flour be transported through the Israeli port of Ashdod to Gaza, and that Israel help facilitate the delivery of aid from Jordan through the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the southern part of the Strip.
The source said Netanyahu had agreed to the three requests, but it was unclear when Israel might act on them.
The website quoted the source as saying that a large part of the call between Netanyahu and Biden focused on the ongoing talks aimed at reaching an agreement to secure the release of more than 130 hostages still being held in Gaza.
US officials have acknowledged that a new hostage deal may be the only way to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.
Brett McGurk, Biden’s top Middle East adviser, visited Egypt and Qatar this week to discuss hostage negotiations. Biden has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu in recent weeks.
The call on Jan. 19 was the first between the two leaders in nearly a month. During their previous call on Dec. 23, a frustrated Biden ended the call by saying, “Conversation over” and hanging up the phone.
In the first two months of the war, which began on October 7, the two leaders spoke almost every other day. CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to meet with the Qatari prime minister and the heads of Israeli and Egyptian intelligence in the coming days.
These talks aim to reach a breakthrough on an agreement that includes a two-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of all hostages held by Hamas.