TEL AVIV, Israel (National Times) \u2014 U.S. President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s handling of the war in Gaza a mistake and called for his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid, ramping up pressure on Israel to reach a cease-fire and widening a rift between the two staunch allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Palestinians in Gaza marked a muted start to the Eid al-Fitr holiday, with parents visiting the graves of sons and daughters killed in the war. After morning prayers, Muslims often visit the resting places of loved ones during the three-day festival marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a cemetery in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, Samahir Za\u2019neen crouched over the tombstone of her 20-year-old son, who was killed in an airstrike in January while walking in the city. \u201cHis Eid (is) in paradise, God willing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden has been an outspoken supporter of Israel\u2019s war against Hamas since the militant group launched a deadly assault on Oct. 7. But in recent weeks his patience with Netanyahu has appeared to be waning and his administration has taken a more stern line with Israel, rattling the countries\u2019 decades-old alliance and deepening Israel\u2019s international isolation over the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden\u2019s comments, made in an interview that aired late Tuesday after being recorded two days after the WCK strike, highlight the differences between Israel and the U.S. over humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, where a monthslong war has led to warnings of imminent famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat he\u2019s doing is a mistake. I don\u2019t agree with his approach,\u201d Biden told Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was responding to being asked if Netanyahu is prioritizing his political survival over the national interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden said Israel should agree to a cease-fire, flood beleaguered Gaza with aid for the next six to eight weeks and allow other countries in the region to help distribute the aid. \u201cIt should be done now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunger in Gaza is overshadowing the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a typically joyous festival during which families celebrate the end of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza in the early days of the war, but under U.S. pressure has slowly increased trucks allowed to enter the territory. Still, aid groups have complained that supplies are not reaching desperate people quickly enough, blaming Israeli restrictions, and countries have attempted other ways to deliver them including air drops and by sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel says its has steadily ramped up aid throughout the war, opening up more entry points for trucks to enter and to reach especially hard-hit areas like northern Gaza, an early target of Israel\u2019s in the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel blames aid groups for being too slow to deliver aid once it\u2019s inside Gaza. Those groups say logistical issues and the precarious security situation \u2014 underscored by the WCK strike \u2014 complicate aid deliveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel and Hamas are currently engaged in talks meant to bring about a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages captured by Hamas and others who stormed across the border on Oct. 7. But the sides remain far apart on key issues, including the return of Palestinians to hard-hit northern Gaza. Netanyahu\u2019s Security Cabinet met late Tuesday to discuss the hostage negotiations, but did not appear to make any decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Netanyahu has vowed to achieve \u201ctotal victory\u201d in the war, pledging to destroy Hamas\u2019 military and governing capabilities to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attacks and to return the hostages. He says that victory must include an offensive in Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas\u2019 last major stronghold, but more than half of Gaza\u2019s 2.3 million people are currently seeking shelter there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six months into the war, Israel is growing ever more isolated, with even its closest partner increasingly vocal about its discontent in the war\u2019s direction and longtime trading partners like Turkey taking potentially painful economic steps to express dismay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, is under pressure to decide on a postwar vision for Gaza. But critics say he is delaying because he doesn\u2019t want to anger his ultranationalist governing partners, who support resettling the Gaza Strip, which Israel withdrew from in 2005 and an idea Netanyahu has ruled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Netanyahu\u2019s governing partners also oppose making significant concessions to Hamas in the ongoing negotiations. They have threatened to exit the government — a step that would cause the ruling coalition to collapse and trigger new elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf the prime minister thinks that there\u2019s going to be a reckless deal here, it isn\u2019t going to pass,\u201d Limor Sonn Har Melech, a lawmaker in the hard-line Jewish Power party, said in an interview to an Israeli radio station. \u201cIf we realize that the meaning of stopping this war is capitulation to Hamas, we won\u2019t be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel launched the war in response to Hamas\u2019 cross-border assault, where militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 33,200 Palestinians have been killed in the relentless fighting, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry which doesn\u2019t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel says it has killed some 12,000 militants, without providing evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The war has ignited a humanitarian catastrophe. Most of the territory\u2019s population has been displaced and with vast swaths of Gaza\u2019s urban landscape levelled in the fighting, many areas are uninhabitable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEL AVIV, Israel (National Times) \u2014 U.S. President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s handling of the war in Gaza a mistake and called for his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid, ramping up pressure on Israel to reach a cease-fire and widening a rift between the two staunch allies. Palestinians in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n