A day after President Biden asserted that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” Mr.
Mr. Netanyahu, in a interview with Politicochallenged Mr. Biden’s assessment of Israel’s military strategy in the Gaza Strip, saying his policies represented what the “overwhelming majority” of Israelis wanted.
“I don’t know what the president means exactly, but if he means that I am carrying out private policies against the majority, at the will of the majority of Israelis, and that this hurts the interests of Israel, then he is wrong on both counts,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
He added, “These are policies supported by the overwhelming majority of Israelis. They support the action we are taking to destroy the remaining terrorist battalions of Hamas.”
Mr. Netanyahu was responding to Mr. Biden’s comments on Saturday in a MSNBC interview. Mr. Biden rebuked Mr. Netanyahu over the rising civilian death toll in Gaza, even as he reaffirmed American support for Israel.
“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to go after Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost as a result of the actions that were taken,” Mr. Biden said.
“In my view, he’s hurting Israel more than he’s helping Israel,” Mr. Biden said, apparently referring to Mr. Trump’s military strategy. Netanyahu. “It goes against what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake. So I want to see a cease-fire.”
Asked by the interviewer, Jonathan Capehart, if he had a “red line” that Mr. Netanyahu must not cross, such as the Rafah raid in southern Gaza, Mr. Biden offered a rambling response but said that “the defense of Israel is still critical.”
“He cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a result” of his pursuit of Hamas, the president said, referring to Mr. Netanyahu.
“There are other ways to deal with, to get to, to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas,” he added.
Mr. did not offer details. Biden. Gaza’s health ministry said more than 31,000 people have been killed in the enclave since Israel began the war in response to the October 7 attacks launched by Hamas.
But the president’s comments again underscored the delicate position the United States finds itself in: arming Israel while at the same time providing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Mr. became more forceful. Biden in recent days about the situation of civilians in Gaza, urging Mr. Netanyahu not to go ahead with his stated plans to launch a major offensive in Rafah without a plan to protect the residents there. More than a million Gazans have sought refuge in the city, many of whom were displaced by Israeli military orders to move to so-called safe zones.
In an interview with Politico, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that Israel still intended to attack Rafah: “We will go there. We will not leave. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, Oct will never happen again. It won’t happen again.”
When asked about Mr. Biden’s remarks, Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, declined to say what they suggested about the relationship between the US and Israel.
“I try to separate the rhetoric from the essence: The goals of the war and the state of Israel are simple — they are to free all the captives and dismantle the military force and leadership of Hamas,” Mr. Katz told Kan , Israel’s public radio network announced on Sunday. “The United States supports these goals as Biden emphasized yesterday.”
He added that Israel said it would have a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah before any ground offensive, and he reiterated that his country’s military does not “intentionally harm civilians.”
The push toward Rafah has drawn warnings from the United States and other allies about the potential humanitarian cost. The United Nations said a ground invasion in Rafah could have “major implications for all of Gaza, including the hundreds of thousands who are at grave risk of starvation and famine in the north.”
Under Mr. Biden’s direction, US military cargo planes have dropped food, water and other aid into Gaza several times in recent days. The latest airdrop came on Monday, when said the US military it dropped more than 27,000 “food equivalents” and nearly 26,000 bottles of water in northern Gaza.
In addition, the Biden administration announced plans to build a floating pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver more supplies to the enclave.
But American officials acknowledged that dropping aid by air and building a pier would not be as effective as delivering supplies by land, an option largely blocked by Israel.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
