Biden calls Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza a ‘mistake’

President Joe Biden has been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas. But his patience with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appeared to be waning, and his administration has taken a more stern line, deepening Israel’s international isolation.

First Look

President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza a mistake and urged his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid, ramping up pressure on Israel to reach a cease-fire and widening a rift between the two staunch allies.

Mr. Biden has been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas since the militant group launched a deadly assault on Oct. 7. But in recent weeks his patience with Mr. Netanyahu has appeared to be waning and his administration has taken a more stern line with Israel, deepening its international isolation over the war.

The most serious disagreement has been over Israel’s plans for an offensive in the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, which it says is Hamas’ last major stronghold. The rift has spiraled since, worsened by an Israeli airstrike last week on an aid convoy that killed seven workers with the international food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK). Israel said the airstrike was conducted in error and sacked or reprimanded several officers, but Mr. Biden was outraged.

Mr. Biden’s comments, made in an interview recorded two days after the WCK strike but aired April 9, highlight the differences between Israel and the U.S. over humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, where a monthslong war has led to warnings of imminent famine.

The president, asked if Mr. Netanyahu is prioritizing his political survival over Israel’s national interest, told Spanish-language broadcaster Univision that “what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach.”

Mr. Biden said Israel should agree to a cease-fire, flood beleaguered Gaza with aid for the next six to eight weeks, and allow other countries in the region to help distribute the aid. “It should be done now,” he said.

Hunger in Gaza is overshadowing the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a typically joyous festival during which families celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza in the early days of the war, but under U.S. pressure has slowly increased the number of trucks allowed to enter the territory. Still, aid groups have complained that supplies are not reaching desperate people quickly enough, blaming Israeli restrictions, and countries have attempted other ways to deliver them, including air drops and by sea.

Israel says its has steadily ramped up aid throughout the war, opening up more entry points for trucks to enter and to reach especially hard-hit areas like northern Gaza, an early target of Israel’s in the war.

Israel blames aid groups for being too slow to deliver aid once it’s inside Gaza. Those groups say logistical issues and the precarious security situation – underscored by the WCK strike – complicate aid deliveries.

Israel and Hamas are currently engaged in talks meant to bring about a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages captured on Oct. 7. But the sides remain far apart on key issues, including the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu’s security cabinet met April 9 to discuss the hostage negotiations, but did not appear to make any decisions.

Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to achieve “total victory” in the war, pledging to destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attacks and to return the hostages. He says that victory must include an offensive targeting Hamas in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are currently seeking shelter.

Six months into the war, Israel is growing ever more isolated, with even its closest partner increasingly vocal about its discontent in the war’s direction and longtime trading partners like Turkey taking potentially painful economic steps to express dismay.

Mr. Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, is under pressure to offer a postwar vision for Gaza. Critics say he is delaying taking that step to avoid angering his ultranationalist governing partners, some of whom support resettling the Gaza Strip, an idea Mr. Netanyahu has ruled out. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Mr. Netanyahu’s governing partners also oppose making significant concessions to Hamas in the ongoing negotiations. They have threatened to exit the government, which would cause the ruling coalition to collapse, triggering new elections.

“If the prime minister thinks that there’s going to be a reckless deal here, it isn’t going to pass,” Limor Sonn Har Melech, a lawmaker in the hard-line Jewish Power party, said in an interview with an Israeli radio station. “If we realize that the meaning of stopping this war is capitulation to Hamas, we won’t be there.”

Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’ cross-border assault, in which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

More than 33,200 Palestinians have been killed in the relentless fighting, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel says it has killed some 12,000 militants.

The war has ignited a humanitarian catastrophe. Most of the territory’s population has been displaced, and with vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape leveled in the fighting, many areas are uninhabitable.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Ms. Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.