An agitated Joe Biden has called Israel’s military actions in Gaza “overblown” in his harshest criticism since the bombings and invasion began.
The US president berated his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a White House news conference on Thursday while discussing a report on his mishandling of classified documents.
Biden said he was trying to negotiate a longer ceasefire to bring humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and press for the release of Hamas hostages.
“I am of the opinion, as you know, that the response in the Gaza Strip has been exaggerated,” the 81-year-old president said.
‘I am pushing hard now to address this hostage ceasefire. I have been working tirelessly on this agreement.
Joe Biden has called Israel’s military actions in Gaza “overblown” in his harshest criticism since the bombings and invasion began.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 27,000 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and thousands more are feared buried under rubble in Israel’s response to the surprise attack.
“I think if we can get the delay, the initial delay, I think we could extend it to increase the prospects of this fighting in Gaza changing.”
Biden added that he was pushing for increased humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians and for a temporary pause to allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas.
“I’m pushing hard now to address this hostage ceasefire,” he said, before describing the toll of the war on Palestinian civilians.
“There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and this has to stop.”
Israel began its military offensive after Hamas militants from Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on October 7.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 27,000 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and thousands more are feared buried under rubble in Israel’s response to the surprise attack.
To date there has been a truce, which lasted a week in late November, when Hamas released some of its hostages.
Biden rebuked his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a White House news conference on Thursday.
Israel began its military offensive after Hamas militants from Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on October 7.
Biden used the same phrase to describe Hamas’s demands for the release of the remaining hostages on Tuesday.
The group that rules Gaza wanted a 135-day ceasefire, the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of 1,500 Palestinian prisoners.
Biden described the demands as “a bit far-fetched,” but Mossad, Israel’s security agency, said it was “carefully watching what was presented to us.”
Netanyahu called the terrorists’ demands “bizarre” and said accepting them “would only invite another massacre” when they are “a finger’s breadth away from a decisive victory.”
Netanyahu responded unequivocally, stating: “Surrendering to Hamas’s delusional demands that we have heard now will not only not lead to the release of the captives, but will only invite another massacre.”
“We are on the path to absolute victory,” Netanyahu said, adding that the operation would last months, not years.
“There is no other solution,” he said while calling for the “total elimination of Hamas.”
Asked if his government would agree to the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, Netanyahu said: “Well, we haven’t really committed to anything.”
“There is supposed to be some kind of negotiation process with the mediators, but from what I have seen, after Hamas’s response, I don’t know what is happening,” he said.
People inspect damage to their homes following Israeli airstrikes on February 9 in Rafah, Gaza.
Palestinians watch the destruction following an Israeli attack in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Hamas proposed three 45-day release phases, starting with all women, male civilians under 19, the elderly and the sick, in exchange for some of the Palestinian prisoners.
The IDF would then have to withdraw from populated areas and cease air operations before the male soldiers are released in exchange for other convicts.
In the final phase, the bodies of the dead hostages would be returned to the last group of terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons.
But the terrorist group’s demands also call for a complete withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza and would effectively allow Hamas to rebuild its army and remain in power.
He also claims that a third of the Palestinians freed in exchange for the hostages would be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Qatar is said to have pressured Hamas to drop its demand to withdraw Israeli forces in exchange for the release of up to 5,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Negotiations continue between Israel, the United States and Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo.
The Daily Mail understands that all sides are pushing to reach a deal before Ramadan next month, which may be a time of heightened religious fervor.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also met with Israeli leaders today to advance ceasefire talks while pushing for a broader post-war agreement.
Saudi Arabia would normalize its relations with Israel in exchange for a “clear, credible and time-bound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Blinken landed in Tel Aviv after Israel after meeting the leaders of mediators Qatar and Egypt in the war’s most serious diplomatic push yet aimed at reaching an expanded truce.