US President Joe Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their call on Thursday that the US could condition military aid to Israel on what it does to address humanitarian concerns in Gaza and get to a ceasefire as soon as possible, NBC News reported, citing two US officials.
“That was the message,” one of the officials said.
The two US officials said Biden told Netanyahu to begin letting more trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza immediately and to be less stringent about what materials are on them.
The White House said in a readout following Thursday’s call that Biden “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 US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”
Asked to elaborate on potential policy changes the White House hinted at in the readout, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a press briefing that he wouldn't preview specific steps that the US might take.
"What we are looking to see and hope to see here in the coming hours and days is a dramatic increase in the humanitarian assistance getting [into Gaza], additional crossings opened up and a reduction in the violence against civilians and certainly aid workers," Kirby said, according to NBC News, adding that they want to see Israel "take practical immediate steps to protect aid workers on the ground and to demonstrate that they have that civilian harm mitigation in place."
Kirby was pressed repeatedly about whether the US could withhold military aid to Israel and said he wouldn't get ahead of any decisions.
"There are too many civilians being killed," Kirby said. "The risk to aid workers is unacceptable. Now we have certain aid organizations that are reconsidering whether they’re even going to be able to continue operations in Gaza, while famine looms, so there has to be tangible steps. Let’s see what they announce, let’s see what they direct, let’s see what they do."
On Wednesday, Politico reported that the Biden administration has no plans to change its policy toward Israel after the IDF air strike which killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza.
Biden was privately enraged by the deadly strike and in a public statement on Tuesday upbraided Israel for it, calling for “accountability” to those responsible and demanding more humanitarian assistance be allowed into Gaza. But two senior administration officials told Politico that is as far as he and the White House will go for now.
“That’s all we have planned,” said one of the officials.