President Biden delivered a blunt message Thursday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: America’s patience with its ally’s campaign against Hamas terrorists in Gaza is not infinite.
In a White House readout of the first call between the two leaders following an errant Israeli airstrike earlier this week that killed seven international aid workers in the war-torn Palestinian enclave, Mr. Biden told the prime minister the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “unacceptable” and that Israel needed to implement a series of “specific, concrete, and measurable steps” to limit civilian casualties and assure such strikes are never repeated.
Mr. Biden “made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel‘s immediate action on these steps,” the White House said in its readout of the approximately 30-minute call.
“He underscored that an immediate cease-fire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the prime minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,” the White House said.
Mr. Biden in the call backed an immediate cease-fire in Gaza — something Israel has resisted — and told Mr. Netanyahu to empower his negotiators to cut a deal to bring home the estimated 100 or so hostages still held by Hamas.
The president also said he supports Israel in the face of threats from Iran, according to the White House readout.
SEE ALSO: Chinese weapons found in Gaza, report claims
The discussion came at a time when historically close U.S.-Israeli relations are facing unprecedented stresses and the Netanyahu government is facing rising criticism from Washington and capitals around the world.
Mr. Netanyahu has said he is determined to pursue a major new military campaign against Hamas fighters holed up in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite explicit warnings from Washington that the offensive could result in massive new civilian casualties.
Israeli officials say the Rafah campaign is needed to defeat Hamas and avenge the Oct. 7 terror rampage that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to the capture of hundreds of hostages.
The Biden administration was further embarrassed by news reports Thursday that the deadly April 1 strike on World Central Kitchen workers — which Israel insists was unintentional and which it promised to investigate — came on the same day the State Department approved a major new shipment of MK82 500-pound bombs for the Israel Defense Forces.
Mr. Biden was already under severe pressure from his left-wing liberal base over the strong U.S. support for Israel in the war against Hamas, and the timing of the new weapons authorization will only increase the political headache for the president.
The latest shipment was part of a previously approved annual military aid package to Israel worth nearly $4 billion and won’t be delivered until next year, but critics say Mr. Biden has failed to use his authority to scale back or cancel the weapons pipeline to Israel as the devastation inside Gaza mounts.
Separately, officials at the World Central Kitchen, founded by famed D.C.-based chef Jose Andres, said an investigation by Israel itself into the fatal airstrike was not sufficient.
“This was a military attack that involved multiple strikes and targeted three WCK vehicles,” the group said in a statement Thursday. “An independent investigation is the only way to determine the truth of what happened, ensure transparency and accountability for those responsible, and prevent future attacks on humanitarian aid workers.”
Mr. Biden’s national security team has stepped up its rhetoric over Israel‘s handling of the war as Mr. Netanyahu has dug in against American criticisms. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant in a separate phone call this week that he was “outraged” by the World Central Kitchen incident, the Pentagon said in a readout of this call.
Mr. Biden himself spoke Wednesday with Mr. Andres about the incident.
Israel‘s unity War Cabinet was briefed on the preliminary findings of the Israel Defense Forces probe into the strike, but no details on the probe have been released, the Times of Israel reported. Israeli officials have acknowledged the attack was a “grave mistake,” but Mr. Netanyahu also observed that “these things happen in war.”
The Israeli prime minister’s worries include more than just the Gaza campaign and relations with the country’s most powerful ally. The IDF says it is bracing for possible retaliation from Iran after an airstrike in Syria this week — widely believed to have been carried out by Israel — killed two senior commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and five other military officers at Tehran’s consulate in Damascus.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed Wednesday Israel would receive a “slap in the face” for the attack, and U.S. officials say American troops in the region are on high alert for possible retaliatory strikes as well from Tehran or Iran-allied militant groups across the Middle East.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said after the call that the U.S. message was that changes had to be made in Israel‘s policies in Gaza. He said Washington hopes to see evidence of the changes in “the coming hours and days.”
“If there’s no changes to [Israeli] policy in their approaches, then there’s going to have to be changes to ours,” Mr. Kirby told reporters at the White House. “There are things that need to be done. There are too many civilians being killed.”
Asked directly if the Thursday’s call stemmed directly from the World Central Kitchen strike, Mr. Kirby offered a one-word answer: “Yes.”
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this story.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.