Biden Says Netanyahu Is ‘Making A Mistake’ In Gaza In Sharpest Rebuke Since Beginning Of Hamas War

US President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ‘making a mistake’ in Gaza and expressed his disagreement with the ‘approach’ the Israeli leader has taken towards the war that began on October 7 following an unprecedented attack by Hamas.

“Well, I will tell you, I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden said during an interview aired Tuesday by broadcaster Univision. Biden called for a halt to the fighting.

“I think it’s outrageous that those four, three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out on a highway where it wasn’t like it was along the shore, it wasn’t like there was a convoy moving there,” Biden said, referring to the aid workers from the World Central Kitchen who died in Israeli strikes.

The deaths led to Israel’s sharp criticism from several allies, like the US and the UK as well as Australia and Poland.

Biden said if the Israelis call for a six-to-eight week ceasefire it will allow Gazans access to much-needed food and medicines as the war-ravaged coastal strip faces famine-like conditions.

“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden said, according to a transcript of the interview byUnivision.

The White House has said Israel has taken “some steps forward” in securing a truce, while Hamas’s response has been “less than encouraging”.

He said he has held talks with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt and said these nations are prepared to move in with food and aid. “I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They’re prepared to move in. They’re prepared to move this food in. And I think there’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now,” Biden further added.

Israel insists it is not limiting aid and has complied with US and United Nations demands to scale up the deliveries.

The Netanyahu government has also been handed a Wednesday deadline from the country’s apex court to show how and what actions it has taken to increase the flow of humanitarian goods.

The case was brought by five NGOs that accuse Israel of restricting the entry of relief items and failing to provide basic necessities to Gazans.

The war broke out with Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Palestinian militants also took more than 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,360 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.