President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time since an airstrike killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza.
During the call, the White House said Biden warned that U.S. policy toward the crisis will be determined by Israel’s immediate efforts to address civilian harm and the security of aid workers.
“President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,” a White House readout of the call said. “He 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. 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.”
The readout resembled a sharp warning from a president who has grown increasingly frustrated by his Israeli counterpart but unwilling, as of now, to dramatically change the U.S. approach to the war in Gaza. It is as close as Biden has come to saying he would condition aid to Israel since the war began. And it also left the impression that the White House views Netanyahu individually as an obstacle to a ceasefire. The statement said Biden urged the Israeli prime minister to “empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay.”
The tone of the official White House readout Thursday was notably more critical than the previous one following Biden’s March 18 call with Netanyahu. In that readout, Biden was said to have “stressed the urgent need to significantly increase the flow of lifesaving aid reaching those in need throughout Gaza,” according to the White House; and he “reiterated his deep concerns about the prospect of Israel conducting a major ground operation in Rafah.”
The heightened rhetoric in Thursday’s readout appeared to be a direct response to the killing of seven aid workers distributing meals in Gaza, as did the implicit threat in Biden’s vow to condition future aid to Israel on proof that it was taking “immediate” steps to “address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.”
But Biden, as he has in prior readouts, continued to express support broadly for Israel’s right to defend itself against outside threats.
Eli Stokols contributed to this report.