Later Tuesday, however, Biden appeared to walk back those remarks after a reporter asked him if Netanyahu was “playing politics” with the war.
“I don’t think so,” Biden replied. “He’s trying to solve the serious problem he has.”
This episode constitutes the latest evidence of the strained relations between Biden and Netanyahu. Biden outlined what he called an Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, but Netanyahu has since publicly distanced himself from the deal, which his right-wing coalition partners say would prompt them to overturn the government.
More generally, there was little evidence of a change in the Biden administration’s Israel policy.
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Israel signed a deal with the United States on Tuesday to add a third squadron of F-35 fighter jets to the Israeli Air Force. Delivery will begin in 2028, but the timing of the deal was notable as Biden seeks to pressure Israel to end its war in Gaza.
The signing of the agreement in the current context of the situation in Gaza “demonstrates how the Biden administration lacks seriousness when it comes to exerting significant pressure on Israel to end its operations in Gaza,” said Josh Paul, a former State Department official who worked on arms transfers and resigned last year to protest Biden’s Gaza policies.
In Israel, Monday evening’s announcement of the confirmed deaths of four hostages in the Gaza Strip increased pressure on Netanyahu’s government to adopt the ceasefire agreement with Hamas and bring back alive those who are still in captivity.
The four hostages were killed several months ago in the Khan Younis area of Gaza “during our operation there against Hamas,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said during a press briefing.
Netanyahu said he was working “in multiple ways” to bring back the hostages. “I constantly think of them, their families and their suffering,” he said in a statement. But he stressed that eliminating Hamas remained the priority, despite fears for the lives of the hostages.
Majed Al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, mediator in the ceasefire talks, said Tuesday that “we are waiting for a clear Israeli position that represents the entire government in response” to the proposal announced Friday by Biden. .
Ansari said Qatar had “submitted the proposal to the Hamas camp” and “the newspaper is now much closer to the positions of both parties.” We are now doing our best to finalize an agreement.
But he added that neither side had issued a statement that “gives us a lot of confidence.”
Hamas official Suhail Hindi told the Washington Post that the plan Biden presented publicly last week remains under discussion within the group.
The aftermath of the hostages’ deaths dominated Israeli newspapers on Tuesday, as prominent columnists said more should have been done to save the four men.
“Their deaths were not the result of a ‘missed opportunity.’ They are the result of a failed, appalling and negligent administration; grandiloquent remarks,” wrote Nadav Eyal in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. “These findings will no longer help Nir Oz’s grandfathers and Nirim’s uncle. They died, in that tunnel, waiting for the (Israeli Defense Forces) who never arrived. »
Monday’s announcements mean that more than a third of the hostages still held in Gaza – 43 out of 124 – are now confirmed dead, according to the prime minister’s office’s own tally. This figure includes four hostages dating from 2014, two of whom are confirmed dead.
The news came amid a wave of confusing messages regarding the proposed ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. On Monday, Netanyahu told a parliamentary committee that any “claim that we agreed to a ceasefire without our conditions being met is incorrect.”
The impasse in the talks has fueled anger and division within Netanyahu’s government. Far-right members of his coalition have threatened to resign and overthrow the government if the deal presented by Biden is accepted. The Shas faction in the Israeli Knesset, for its part, declared that it had decided to “fully support the Israeli proposal”. The religious faction, part of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, said it wanted to “complete the deal.”
The main point of contention remains the question of how and when the war will officially end. Israel insisted it would not accept any option that guaranteed Hamas’ survival. Hamas said it demanded a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned of the dangers of any further delay in the release of hostages. “With each passing day, more and more hostages die in captivity,” he said in an article on X. “This loss of life is not inevitable. All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally.
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander was killed in an Israeli strike in Syria on Monday, according to Iranian media reports. The strike marks Israel’s first apparent attack on Iranian interests since an Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus in April. This strike triggered massive retaliation from Iran. attack on Israel, an escalation that threatens to further destabilize the region. The Iranian commander killed Monday in Syria was identified as Saeed Abiyar, an advisor to Syrian forces allied with Iran, according to state media Tasnim.
The risk of famine has increased as Israel makes “a humanitarian response to Gaza virtually impossible.”“, British anti-poverty organization Oxfam said on Monday. Two-thirds of the population are now trapped in less than a fifth of the Gaza Strip, Oxfam said, adding that “incessant aerial and ground bombardments of Israel and the deliberate obstruction of the humanitarian response make it virtually impossible for humanitarian agencies to reach the trapped and starving civilian populations in Gaza.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Critical desalination plants have closed due to a lack of fuel. “People don’t have enough water,” the agency said in an article on X. “Families and children travel long distances in the heat to get water.” He stressed that Israeli authorities must provide access “NOW.”
At least 36,550 people have been killed and 82,959 injured in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry., which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but asserts that the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that around 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 287 soldiers have been killed since its military operations in Gaza began.
John Hudson, Karen DeYoung, Susannah George, Hajar Harb, Lior Soroka and Hazem Balousha contributed to this report.
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