The US president says Israel's Netanyahu is “harming Israel” more than helping its handling of the war.
US President Joe Biden warned that there are “red lines” that Israel should not cross in its war in Gaza, while insisting that it would never abandon the US ally.
In a contradictory and confusing interview with MSNBC broadcast on Saturday, Biden said that an Israeli invasion of the city of Rafah would be his “red line” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but that he would never “abandon Israel.”
“Israel's defense remains critical, so there is no red line [where] “I'm going to cut off all the weapons so they don't have the Iron Dome to protect them,” Biden said, referring to Israel's missile defense system.
“But there are red lines that if you cross them…” Biden said without finishing his chain of thought, adding that his administration “cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.”
In some of his sharpest criticism of the Israeli leader yet, Biden also said Netanyahu was “harming Israel more than helping Israel” and should “pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost” in Gaza.
While Biden has strongly backed Israel in its campaign to destroy Hamas, his administration has been increasingly at odds with Netanyahu over the scale of civilian casualties in Gaza and restrictions on humanitarian aid to the enclave.
The Biden administration has repeatedly urged Netanyahu not to launch a planned offensive in Rafah until Israel can ensure the safe evacuation of some 1.3 million Palestinian refugees in the city.
On Thursday, Biden announced plans to build a temporary port in Gaza to allow for the delivery of aid by sea amid severe Israeli restrictions on transporting supplies by land.
Last month, Biden expressed hope that Israel and Hamas could agree to a temporary pause in fighting before Ramadan, but expectations of a deal by then dimmed after mediators left Cairo last week without a deal.
Biden said during his Saturday interview that a deal is “always possible” and that CIA Director Bill Burns was still in the region facilitating negotiations after meeting David Barnea, his counterpart at the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. , the previous day.
The Mossad said on Saturday that discussions about a ceasefire were taking place “all the time” despite dwindling hopes for a breakthrough.
Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 30,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to health authorities in the enclave.
The October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel killed 1,139 people, according to Israeli authorities.
