WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has delivered an ultimatum to Israel, stating that US backing for the Gaza conflict is contingent on “immediate” efforts to safeguard civilians and humanitarian workers, the White House said Thursday.
Within hours of Biden’s tense call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government announced new measures to increase aid to the devastated coastal enclave, including opening the Erez crossing from Israel into northern Gaza and the Ashdod port, as well as increasing aid deliveries from Jordan.
It was uncertain if these steps would satisfy Biden. A National Security Council spokesman stated Thursday night that the steps “must now be fully and rapidly implemented.”
“As the president said today on the call, U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these and other steps, including steps to protect innocent civilians and the safety of aid workers,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the president, said.
More:Death of José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen crew marks a new low in Gaza war, aid workers say
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Biden spoke with Netanyahu three days after a crew from celebrity chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen relief group were killed in an Israeli drone strike in northern Gaza.a.
“President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,” the White House said in a statement issued earlier Thursday. “He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.”
Vice-President Joe 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 statement went on to say.
Veteran US diplomat Dennis Ross, who now works at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Biden gave Netanyahu a clear ultimatum. “The president, in effect, is saying meet these humanitarian needs or I will have no choice but to condition (military) assistance,” Ross went on to remark.
The drone strike on the World Central Kitchen team on Monday was the first time foreign humanitarian workers, including one American citizen, were murdered in the six-month Israel-Hamas battle, eliciting a fast apologies from Netanyahu and the Israeli military, and a sympathy phone call by Biden to Andrés..
The murders of international humanitarians, along with Andre’s celebrity status and popularity in Washington, appear to have rattled the Biden administration at a time when surveys suggest that a majority of Americans no longer support Israel’s battle against Hamas..
“If we don’t see the necessary changes, our policy will change,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters.
“In terms of concrete steps, what we are looking for and hope to see here in the coming hours and days is a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance getting in and additional crossings opened up,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier Thursday.
It wasn’t obvious what the administration was threatening Israel with if it didn’t adjust its behavior in Gaza, but Biden’s threat elicited a strong reaction from some Israeli allies in Congress.
“In this war against Hamas − no conditions for Israel,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., tweeted.
Biden pushes cease-fire and hostage release
According to the White House, Biden pressed Netanyahu to finalize long-stalled cease-fire discussions with Hamas.
The U.S. president “underscored that an immediate ceasefire 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,” according to the statement.
More than 100 hostages are being held by Hamas following a shocking attack in southern Israel on October 7 that murdered 1,200 people. More than 32,000 Palestinians have perished in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as Israeli forces attempt to eradicate the Islamist militant movement.
“The Hamas leadership informed the Egyptian and Qatari mediators that what is being offered cannot be accepted, as it is a continuation of the stubborn Israeli position,” the leader was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Israel last month described Hamas’ cease-fire requests as “delusional.”
Last month, the United States abstained on a United Nations Security Council resolution asking for an urgent cease-fire and captive release.
Humanitarian bloodbath
Since the start of the war, Israeli bombings and gunfire have killed more than 200 relief workers, the vast majority of whom are Palestinians, according to officials.
“This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed,” Biden added in the statement. “This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult — because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians.”
In a statement released Tuesday, Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the attack, which included one American.
According to Andrés, Israeli forces targeted a World Central Kitchen convoy “systematically, car by car,” after they brought food donations to a warehouse in central Gaza..
On the same day as the bombings that murdered the humanitarian workers, the Biden administration apparently authorized the shipping of thousands more bombs to Israel, an attack that has sparked global condemnation.
‘Constant fear’ in Gaza
Speaking over the phone from Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, one humanitarian official told USA TODAY that only an end to the conflict will put an end to civilian and air worker deaths.
“A change in Israel’s rules of engagement will mitigate some of the civilian toll, but the only way to guarantee the safety of civilians and humanitarians is through a permanent cease-fire,” said Federico Dessi, Middle East regional director for the relief group Humanity and Inclusion.
“People are in constant fear,” Dessi remarked. “There are no secure places in Gaza. “The threat of an offensive in Rafah hangs over their heads.”