AFPUS President Biden
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 10:45
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is “damaging” his country by the way he is waging the war against Hamas in Gaza. American President Biden said this in a tv-interview with the American channel MSNBC.
“He is doing more harm than good for his country,” Biden said. “Waging war with so many civilian casualties is at odds with the values of the Jewish state.”
The American president emphasized that he would continue to stand firmly behind Israel. Biden also continues to endorse Israel’s right to retaliate after the October 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel. “But Netanyahu must pay more attention to the innocent lives lost as a result of the actions.”
Biden has long warned that Israel risks losing international support due to the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. According to the Palestinian health ministry, which is led by Hamas, the count has now passed 30,000. Some 2 million people have been displaced since the war began. That is almost the entire population of the coastal strip.
‘Invasion Rafah red line’
In the interview, Biden calls an Israeli invasion of the southern city of Rafah “a red line.” About 1.3 million Palestinians are in refugee camps in the Gaza border city. According to Israel, there is a Hamas stronghold in the city.
Biden did not comment on what the consequences of a raid on Rafah would be. “It’s a red line, but I will never abandon Israel. Defending Israel is still critical,” Biden said. “So there is no red line in the sense that I am going to deny Israel all weapons so that they no longer have an Iron Dome (defense system that intercepts missiles, ed.) to protect themselves.”
Believe in ceasefire
Biden also said in the TV interview that he still believes that a ceasefire in Gaza is possible before Ramadan starts one of these days. “I think it’s always possible, I’ll never give up on that.” Yesterday, Hamas leader Naim told NOS that he was less hopeful of a ceasefire than ten days ago.
Talks about a possible ceasefire are taking place in the Egyptian capital Cairo. Hamas representatives spoke last week with mediators from Qatar and Egypt.
Israel did not want to take a seat at the negotiating table because it had not received a list from Hamas of the names of hostages that would be released as part of the deal. According to Hamas, it is not possible to find out which of the hostages are still alive because Gaza is still being bombed by Israel.
Biden said he also wants to express his views in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. For this he wants to travel to Israel again. The American president was last there a few weeks after October 7.
Tel Aviv protests
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv last night to protest against the policies of the Israeli government. People also took to the streets in other cities in the country.
According to the demonstrators, Netanyahu’s policies are only focused on his own interests and not on the release of the hostages in Gaza.
Near the Ministry of Defense, police stopped protesters who wanted to block a highway. According to authorities, sixteen people were arrested there.
2024-03-10 09:45:56
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