National security spokesman John Kirby said the White House is “increasingly frustrated” with Israel’s actions in Gaza.
During an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, co-host Martha Raddatz noted how President Biden and his Cabinet officials appear to have become increasingly frustrated with Israel’s bloody offensive to root out Hamas.
“I’m glad you mentioned that timeline because it shows the degree… the increasing degree of frustration that we’ve had with the way these operations are being carried out and the way the Israelis are acting on the ground in terms of of civilian victims”. ‘ Kirby told Raddatz.
‘So we have become increasingly frustrated. And again, that was a central message that the President delivered to Prime Minister Netanyahu in his phone call last week: that they have to do more, they have to make changes,’ he continued.
National security spokesman John Kirby said the White House is “increasingly frustrated” with Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Biden faced a revolt from progressives who say he supports Israel too much as civilian casualties mount in Gaza. Criticism of Israel’s military campaign increased this week when an Israeli airstrike killed six World Central Kitchen workers, one of them American, and their Palestinian driver as they left a warehouse in central Gaza.
The workers, delivering food aid in Gaza, were driving in a “non-conflict zone” in armored and tagged vehicles that were hit by an Israeli rocket.
On Friday, a group of more than 30 House Democrats, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanded Biden stop arms transfers to Israel.
“In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these arms transfers,” the letter reads.
The Palestinian death toll since October has exceeded 33,000.
Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., criticized Biden for paying only lip service to the Palestinian cause.
‘As you know, there have been many statements. I mean, one day ‘I’m angry,’ the president is angry at Netanyahu. The next day he is “very angry” and the next day he is “very, very angry.” So what?’ the Vermont progressive said of the White House response.
An elderly Palestinian woman pushes a wheelchair through the rubble in Khan Yunis on April 7, 2024 after Israel withdrew troops from the southern Gaza Strip, six months after the devastating war that followed the April 7 attacks. October.
Palestinians use a road lined with damaged and destroyed buildings in Khan Yunis on April 7, 2024.
‘At the same time, military aid is supported. “We’re talking about $10 billion in a companion bill that I voted against for that reason,” Sanders continued.
The senator promised not to give Netanyahu another $10 billion in military aid to “continue killing women and children in Gaza.”
Sanders made the remarks during a recording of the Pod Save America podcast that was released on Friday.
‘You can’t keep talking about your concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and then give Netanyahu another $10 billion or more in bombs. You can’t do that. That’s hypocritical.’
Sanders said the president is not stupid and knows that Biden is a “very decent human being” who is “hurt” by what he is going through, but he could not say why the White House continued the policy of supporting military aid.
The senator was responding to a question about whether he believes the Biden administration is changing its stance to support conditioning aid to Israel. The senator said he didn’t know.
On Thursday, Biden had an hour-long phone call with Netanyahu after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed seven aid workers earlier in the week, including a grieving US citizen.
Biden ’emphasized that attacks on aid workers and the broader humanitarian situation are unacceptable,’ the White House said in a readout of the conversation.
‘He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete and measurable measures to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of humanitarian workers. “He made clear that American policy toward Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these measures,” the readout continued.
Biden faces increasing pressure at home and abroad to do more to ensure the safety of civilians in Gaza. He has also faced growing political pressure as more Americans reject US military support for Israel.
Support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has declined sharply since November and a majority of Americans are now opposed, according to the latest Gallup polling data.
55 percent disapprove of Israel’s actions, while only 36 approve.
Sanders was asked what his message is to those considering a third-party vote on Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.
The senator said he is working “day and night” to try to change the Biden administration.
“I tell that young man that his intuition is correct,” Sanders said. ‘I have Palestinian friends who are worried every day about what will happen if their relatives have not yet been killed. It is awful. But all I ask is that you don’t make a horrible situation even worse.’