President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone Thursday, days after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers in Gaza and added a new layer of complication in the leaders’ increasingly strained relationship. That’s according to a person familiar with the leaders’ conversation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Quick Read
- Biden-Netanyahu Call: President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu engaged in a phone conversation amidst escalating tensions following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of seven aid workers.
- World Central Kitchen Incident: The strike targeted staff from World Central Kitchen, causing international concern and prompting calls for an investigation, including from the organization itself.
- U.S. Stance: While the White House has urged Israel to prevent civilian and aid worker casualties, it has indicated that the U.S. will not conduct its own investigation into the incident.
- Military and Diplomatic Support: Despite these tensions, the U.S. continues to provide Israel with significant military aid and diplomatic backing.
- Calls for Independent Investigation: World Central Kitchen has demanded an independent inquiry into the airstrike that killed its personnel, amid wider calls for accountability.
- Humanitarian Crisis: The ongoing conflict in Gaza has resulted in over 33,000 Palestinian fatalities, with the U.N. highlighting a severe humanitarian crisis and a potential risk of genocide, which Israel denies.
- International Response: The situation has led to increased scrutiny of Israel’s actions in Gaza, with the U.N. Security Council calling for a ceasefire.
The Associated Press has the story:
Biden and Netanyahu speak by phone after Israel kills aid workers in Gaza
Newslooks- WASHINGTON — (AP)
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone Thursday, days after an Israeli air strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza and added a new layer of complication in the leaders’ increasingly strained relationship.
The call is still underway, according to a person familiar with the leaders’ conversation and who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The leaders conversation comes as World Central Kitchen, founded by restauranteur José Andrés to provide immediate food relief to disaster-stricken areas, into the Israeli strikes that killed the group’s staff members, including an American citizen.
The White House has said the U.S. has no plans to conduct its own investigation even as they called on Israel to do more to prevent the killing and wounding innocent civilians and aid workers as it carries out its operations in Gaza.
Biden was expected to reiterate his concerns about Netanyahu’s plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack.
Despite their differences, the Biden administration has continued to provide Israel crucial military aid and diplomatic support. Biden and Netanyahu last spoke on March 18.
World Central Kitchen has demanded an independent investigation into the Israeli strikes that killed seven of its staff Monday. Israel faces growing isolation over the deaths of six foreign aid workers and a Palestinian driver who were helping deliver desperately needed food to isolated and starving residents.
The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s six-month war in Gaza has soared above 33,000 killed, with more than 75,600 wounded, the Health Ministry in Gaza said Thursday. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
The United Nations says much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation. The top United Nations court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies — and the U.N. Security Council has issued a legally binding demand for a cease-fire.
