US President Joe Biden said on Thursday night that Israel’s response in Gaza has been “over the top”, as he put it.
"I'm of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top," he told reporters at the White House.
Biden added that he is working hard to bring about a lasting pause in the fighting in order to facilitate a deal for the release of hostages and the entry of additional humanitarian aid to the Strip.
The President, who has come under fire for memory lapses, including in a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur who probed Biden’s handling of classified documents, mistakenly referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as the president of Mexico.
“Initially, the president of Mexico -- Sisi -- did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi to open the gate on Israeli side. I've been pushing really hard, really hard to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza. There are a lot of innocent people who are starving. Lots of innocent people are in trouble and dying. And it's got to stop," he said.
Biden also noted that he’s “pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire."
Biden’s comments follow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s latest visit to Israel, during which he commented on Hamas' response to the proposed hostage deal.
"While there are some clear non-starters in Hamas's response, we do think it creates space for an agreement to be reached, and we will work at that relentlessly until we get there," said the Secretary of State.
On Tuesday Hamas finally provided the Qatari government with its response to the proposed deal after days of dragging its feet.
As a precondition for any arrangement, Hamas demands a complete halt to Israeli military activity in Gaza, including its airspace.
The hostages to be freed in the first stage would be women, children, the sick, and the elderly, in exchange for the release of all Palestinian Arab women, children, and men aged 50 and above currently held by Israel.
This is in addition to approximately 1,500 other Palestinian Arab prisoners held by Israel, including 500 convicted of murder who are serving life or lengthy sentences.
Despite all the conditions that Hamas set for a deal, a senior Biden administration official told NBC News that the response provided by the terrorist organization was “generally positive.”