President Joe Biden stepped up his criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza late Tuesday, bluntly describing the Israeli prime minister’s approach as a “mistake.”
Biden spoke in an interview with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision in an interview that was filmed on April 3, just 48 hours after seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity were killed in a series of drone strikes. “I think what he’s doing is a mistake,” Biden said of Netanyahu in response to a question about whether the Israeli leader was allowing political considerations to direct his strategy in the conflict.
“I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden added. “I think it’s outrageous that those four, three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out.” The Israel Defense Forces has blamed “mistaken identification” and other failures for the strikes, firing two officers in connection with the incident.
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Biden’s latest comments are among the sharpest criticisms he’s made publicly of Netanyahu in relation to the war, which is now in its seventh month. Last week, the White House said Biden had warned Netanyahu on a call that Israel would have to take immediate “specific, concrete” steps to protect civilians and boost the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza or risk losing U.S. support.
Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved the opening of new aid routes into the enclave just hours later. But Biden said in his interview Tuesday that he believes more needs to be done to increase the flow of vital supplies into Gaza.
“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire,” Biden said. “Allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country. I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians—they’re prepared to move in, they’re prepared to move this food in.”
He added that there’s “no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people,” referring to Gazans. “It should be done now.”
After the interview aired a senior White House official insisted that Biden—who did not mention Hamas or the release of hostages in Gaza when discussing the ceasefire—was not signaling a shift in U.S. policy. He was instead referring to the truce already being negotiated by his administration which would see around 40 hostages released over the course of a six-to-eight-week period, they said, rather than demanding that Israel unilaterally pause the conflict.
“There is no change in our position,” the official said, according to The Times of Israel. “The president was reiterating our longstanding position: we are calling for an immediate ceasefire that would last for at least six weeks as part of a hostage deal.” They added that Biden’s latest comments were “in line with what he said at the State of the Union, and that we’ve repeatedly said.
Biden is facing political pressure from critics angered by his support for Israel in its war. Over 33,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel launched its war in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were kidnapped, according to Israeli figures.
