US President Joe Biden blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “mistaken” Gaza policies as he called for a six to eight-week pause to the war in an interview he gave to the American-based Spanish language news station Univision Noticias.
Biden was asked if he thought that Netanyahu cared more for his own political survival than the Israeli people.
“I will tell you this. I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree,” Biden said.
He spoke of his anger over the IDF’s airstrike that mistakenly killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen.
“I think it's outrageous that those … three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out,” he stated.
“So I'm what I'm calling for. Is for the Israelis to .. call for a ceasefire [and[ allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country.
“I've spoken with everyone from the Saudis, to the Jordanians, to the Egyptians. They're prepared to move in and are prepared to move this food in."
“And I think there's no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of these people. That should be done now,” Biden said.
His statements were part of an extensive interview published on Tuesday but taped earlier.
Biden was not asked about the remaining 133 hostages, nor did he mention them, but he has repeatedly called for their release.
US still pursues a hostage deal out of a ceasefire
The United States has also been clear that it is linking temporary ceasefire efforts with a hostage deal. Last week, the US said that Netanyahu needed to do more to empower negotiators to reach an agreement with Hamas.
CIA Director William Burns held talks in Cairo earlier this week with officials from Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and Hamas.
At the end of those talks, a proposal was handed to Hamas, and negotiators are now waiting for its response.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the “ball is now in Hamas’s court.”
The broad parameters of the deal under discussion would see a six-week pause to the war in exchange for the release of 40 of the hostages. The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel would also have to free 900 Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists, of which some 100 are serving stiff sentences.
The tenor of Biden’s interview with Univision has been in keeping with comments he made to Netanyahu during a phone call between the two of them last week and public comments US officials have made regarding their anger over the WCF deaths and Israel’s handling of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The Biden administration has demanded that the IDF make immediate changes on the humanitarian front. and warned that it could significantly shift its stance on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza should Israel fail to do so.