Biden in Stern Warning to Netanyahu: U.S. Policy on Gaza to Depend on Israel’s Handling of Civilians, Calls for ‘Immediate’ Ceasefire

By Matis Glenn

President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the U.S.’ policy in Gaza will depend on how Israel deals with civilians there, and called for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid in a Thursday phone call between the two heads of state.

According to a readout of the phone call provided by the White House, “President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable. 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.

“He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”

White House Spokesperson John Kirby went further, and said that “If we don’t see changes on their (Israeli) side, there will have to be changes on our side.”

“I don’t want to get ahead of where we are. This is really about seeing what the Israelis say they’re going to do, and then act on those changes.…but with Gaza, we need to see certain changes. And if we don’t, then we’ll have to consider changes to our own policy.”

The U.S. and other allies have ramped up pressure on Israel to do more to avoid civilian casualties, even as Hamas terrorists continue to use Gazan civilian infrastructure for their attacks, including schools, and a return to al-Shifa hospital, in which hundreds of terrorists were killed or captured in recent weeks. Hamas also uses civilians as human shields and actively prevents them from escaping war zones.

Even when using the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry’s data for the death toll of the war against the terror group following the Oct. 7 massacre, combined with the amount of terrorists Israel says have been killed, the ratio of combatants to civilian casualties is less than other urban wars, including the U.S.’ war in Afghanistan.

Biden told Netanyahu that an “immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians,” and he urged Netanyahu to “empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home.

“Netanyahu and Biden also discussed public Iranian threats against Israel and the Israeli people….President Biden made clear that the United States strongly supports Israel in the face of those threats,” the readout said.