Joe Biden was told to decide what Israel should do last night after the latest confusing signals from the White House.
The president was speaking strongly in public as he insisted Israel had a “duty” to mount a “swift, decisive and overwhelming” response to Saturday’s attack by Hamas that left more than 1,000 dead.
At the same time he was privately urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid civilian casualties, according to White House officials.
Gaza’s health ministry reported that the death toll in the territory passed 900 on Wednesday morning after four days of relentless Israeli airstrikes, as Jerusalem prepares a ground invasion.
“Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right and duty to respond to these barbaric attacks,” Biden tweeted.
“Terrorists target and deliberately kill civilians, we respect the laws of war,” Biden told the Israeli prime minister
Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli air strike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Biden that Hamas is ‘even worse than ISIS and we must treat them as such’
“I just got on the phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu and I told him: If the United States were to experience what Israel experienced, our response would be swift, decisive and overwhelming.
But speaking later he urged Netanyahu not to behave like a terrorist.
“We also discussed how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and safer when we operate under the rule of law,” he said.
“Terrorists deliberately target civilians, kill them. We respect the laws of war. It matters.’
It comes after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for a ceasefire, before deleting his tweet, and the White House Office of Palestinian Affairs also rejected calls for Israel to withdraw.
Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee had criticized the administration’s “mixed messages” about appeasing Hamas.
“These initial reactions from your administration are very disturbing,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Your administration’s foreign policy has resulted in a series of national security failures and has demonstrated utter weakness on the world stage.
US President Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, makes comments after speaking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As dawn broke on Wednesday, more airstrikes were launched in Gaza
Palestinians are seen collecting rubble in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes
“We must affirm that Israel has every right to respond to these barbaric acts of terror.”
The White House said it is working in coordination with other countries to provide safe passage from Gaza for civilians through a southern corridor leading to neighboring Egypt.
Netanyahu’s office said he told Biden about Hamas killing families in their homes, raping and killing women, beheading soldiers and burning children to death.
“We have never seen such brutality in the history of the state,” said the prime minister.
“They are even worse than ISIS and we must treat them as such.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has warned that Gaza will become a ‘tent city’ and said he has ‘released all restrictions’ on his troops as he vowed to raze every building to the ground in retaliation for Hamas terror attacks. on the weekend.
“Hamas wanted a change and will have it. What was in Gaza will no longer be,” he said, speaking to soldiers near the Gaza fence.
“We started the offensive from the air, later we will come from the ground as well. We have controlled the area since day two and are on the offensive. It will only intensify.’
Gallant promised to show no mercy to terrorists.
“Whoever comes to behead, kill women, Holocaust survivors – we will eliminate him at the height of our power and without compromise.”
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