President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call Thursday that future U.S. support for the Gaza war requires new steps from Israel to protect civilians and aid workers.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden issued a stark warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that future U.S. support for Israel's Gaza war depends on the swift implementation of new steps to protect civilians and aid workers.
Biden and Netanyahu's roughly 30-minute call just days after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers in Gaza added a new layer of complication to the leaders' increasingly strained relationship. Biden's message marked a sharp change in his administration's support for Israel's war efforts, with Biden for the first time threatening to rethink his backing if Israel doesn't change its tactics and allow much more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The White House would not specify what could change about U.S. policy, but it could include altering military sales to Israel and America's diplomatic backup on the world stage.
Netanyahu's office said early Friday that his Security Cabinet approved "immediate steps" to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including reopening a key crossing destroyed Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel. About 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, were killed that day and militants took about 250 hostages.
Administration officials said before that announcement that the U.S. would assess whether the Israeli moves go far enough.
Biden "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," the White House said following the call. "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."
Biden also told Netanyahu that reaching an “immediate cease-fire" in exchange for the estimated 100 hostages still being held in Gaza was “essential" and urged Israel to reach such an accord "without delay," according to the White House. Administration officials said the conversation was “direct” and “honest."
Netanyahu's office said the Erez crossing, which for years served as the only passenger terminal for people to move in and out of Gaza, would be temporarily reopened. It also said Israel would allow its Ashdod port to be used to process aid shipments bound for Gaza and allow increased Jordanian aid shipments through another land crossing.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson welcomed those moves, adding that the plan "must now be fully and rapidly implemented."
"As the President said today on the call, U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action on these and other steps, including steps to protect innocent civilians and the safety of aid workers," Watson said.
The World Central Kitchen, founded by restauranteur José Andrés to provide food relief to disaster-stricken areas, called for an independent investigation into the Israeli strikes that killed seven of the group's staff members, including an American citizen. The White House said the U.S. had no plans to conduct its own investigation.
Separately, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Brussels that U.S. support would be curtailed if Israel doesn't make significant adjustments to how it's carrying out the war against Hamas.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby echoed the call for "tangible" and "concrete" changes to be taken by the Israelis beyond reiterating long stated calls for allowing additional aid to get into Gaza.
"If there's no changes to their policy in their approaches, then there's going to have to be changes to ours," Kirby said. "There are things that need to be done. There are too many civilians being killed."
The demands for Israel to bring the conflict to a swift close were increasing across the political spectrum, with former President Donald Trump, the Republicans' presumptive presidential nominee, saying Thursday that Israel is "absolutely losing the PR war" and calling for a resolution to the bloodshed.
Biden and Netanyahu also discussed Iranian threats against Israel, Kirby said. Earlier this week, Iranian leaders vowed retaliation after an airstrike widely blamed on Israel destroyed Iran's Consulate in Syria, killing 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals.
Biden also renewed his concerns about Netanyahu's plan to carry out an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas. Vice President Kamala Harris, Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan also joined the call.
Speaking during a meeting with U.S. Republican members of Congress in Jerusalem, the Israeli Prime Minister said there was a "long tradition o…
Still, the Biden administration has proceeded with arms transfers and deliveries to Israel, many of which were approved years ago.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Thursday said plans to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to help boost the flow of aid into the territory continue to move forward. Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the pier will be on line by the end of the month or early May.
Ryder said Israel agreed to provide security on the shore as aid is transferred and distributed, but details are being worked out.
Israel acknowledged responsibility for the strikes on the World Central Kitchen workers but said the convoy was not targeted and their deaths were not intentional. The country continues to investigate.
Andrés criticized the Israeli military for the strike, and his organization paused its work in Gaza.
"The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon," he wrote on X. "No more innocent lives lost."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens as White House national security communications adviser John Kirby addresses reporters Thursday at the White House.