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The Biden administration showed no new signs on Friday that it is prepared to take a harder line on Israel’s military offensive against Hamas as the situation in Gaza worsens, with and the increasing number of deaths and aid groups warned of lack of water, food and medicine.
Biden officials say Israel should do more to limit abuses and allow humanitarian aid to Gaza. But this leaves the US far away from many Arab countries, which demand an immediate end to the war and accuse Israel of what they call an inappropriate response to the attacks by the Hamas October 7.
During a visit to Washington on Friday, ministers from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries said at a press conference that Israel’s attack must stop, and the Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, Israel in committing a “massacre.”
In New York on Friday, the United States rejected a Security Council resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates that called for a ceasefire – a stand-alone position against 13 votes to supported.
Under increasing internal and external pressure, the Biden administration is trying to force Israel to do more to protect the Palestinians. But Israel has not been publicly threatened with specific consequences if not. White House officials have dismissed talk of cutting or adjusting military aid to Israel and said they have not given Israel a fourth chance. able to end his attacks on Gaza.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced that the United States remains dismayed by the civilian deaths and humanitarian situation in Gaza nearly a week after pause the new war to allow the release of people held by Hamas and prisoners held by Israel. Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people, has claimed more than 15,000 lives, according to Gazan health authorities.
In a press conference in Washington, Mr. Blinken says that “there is still a gap” between “Israel’s intention to protect civilians and the real results we see on the ground.”
During the visit to Tel Aviv last week, Mr. Blinken told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders that they should choose safe places for civilians, avoid increasing the population of Gaza and prevent damage to infrastructure such as power plants. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Vice President Kamala Harris have urged Israel to conduct its operations with caution.
Said Mr. Blinken on Thursday, Israel has taken positive steps, including “removing borders instead of entire cities,” building safe havens and “having a much narrower focus of what’s going on.” really make this military game.”
Israeli officials have argued that they are in an impossible position, fighting an enemy in Hamas that is being infiltrated into the public and that, they charge, is trying to increase the The death of Palestine makes Israel a cruel face in the world. Israeli leaders say that although they often take unusual steps to warn the public of impending attacks, they cannot defeat a hostile enemy in a densely populated city without a great damage.
But in Washington and at the United Nations, Arab diplomats expressed anger at the renewed Israeli attacks, which US officials admitted had brought the death toll to a high level and added to the suffering of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Those ministers – from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority – met with Mr. Blinken at the State Department on Friday afternoon. Turkey’s foreign minister also joined the visiting group, the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee.
And on Capitol Hill, some Democrats say the United States should move beyond rhetoric to strengthen Israel. “I think the Biden administration can do a lot to use our power under these circumstances,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. “When words are not matched by strong actions, the United States looks bad.”
“The Biden administration should call for a pause” in the military war with Israel, he added, “until there is a clear plan of action to ensure the goals that the president has given and that have been explained by the secretary of state of ‘war.’ “
Mr. Van Hollen and ten other Democratic Senators are working on an amendment to the military aid package requested by President Biden for Israel and Ukraine. The amendment will require certified weapons in the measure for any country to use them in accordance with American and international laws, and will create new reports to confirm whether those standards have been met.
Biden officials support a halt to the war to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza and to secure the release of dozens of people held by Hamas and other groups, though they say the exchange those detained for Palestinian prisoners were suddenly arrested last week after Hamas rejected the pledges to. free the captive Israelite women.
But the United States, like Israel, opposes a long-term ceasefire because it will allow the Hamas leadership to survive and threaten Israel, continuing the cycle of violence.
U.S. officials have also been reluctant to publicly announce a deadline for Israel to complete major military projects, which officials say research may take several weeks or months.
“We have not given a definite time to Israel, it is not our responsibility. This is their conflict,” said Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser, at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington on Thursday. “That said, we have influence, even if we don’t have ultimate control over what happens on the ground in Gaza.”
Dennis Ross, a Middle East policy official in several presidential administrations, said Mr. Biden will probably continue to resist both domestically and internationally to take a hard line on Israel’s struggle in Gaza.
“If there is an emergency, a humanitarian emergency, such as a hospital that has been hit again – it will cause an immediate crisis,” said Mr. Ross, recalling the October explosion at the hospital in Gaza that sparked protests in the center. East before evidence emerged suggesting the damage was caused by a failed Palestinian rocket and not by Israeli forces.
Except that, said Mr. Ross can envision a situation, if the attack drags on, in which the administration might quietly slow the supply of weapons to Israel. But, he added, “I don’t see the Biden administration saying, ‘Okay, we cut you off.'”
Some US officials privately warn that even the idea of a US-Israeli truce could encourage the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, to attack Israel – a consequences that the US hopes to avoid.
And Mark Mellman, a pollster in America who advised the Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, warned that the public might return to Mr. Netanyahu.
Serious criticism or threats to change American aid to Israel, said Mr. Mellman, only to “help the right to Israel.” He said that Mr. Netanyahu, who has been politically opposed even as many Israelis blame him for failing to prevent the October 7 attacks, will relish the opportunity to stand up against the pressure of mr. Biden in the name of Israel’s security.
There are signs that Mr. Biden in this belief. Asked in late November if he could support tying US aid to Israel on an Israeli plan to limit casualties, the president called the idea “a worthwhile idea.” But his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, clarified on NBC’s “Meet the Press” days later that Mr. Biden only “knows the point.” Said Mr. Sullivan believed the president’s approach to “the president’s direct engagement behind closed doors with Israel and our Arab partners” is yielding results.