Biden warns that the U.S. policy on Gaza depends on the improvement of conditions in Gaza

World Central Kitchen and Vice President Joe Biden: “Stop, stop it now, Joe”, Israel’s response to “Israeli actions don’t solve the Holocaust, but they do solve it”

The president is evidently coming under pressure even from within his own family. Mr. Biden told Muslim community leaders at the White House on Tuesday evening that the first lady, Jill Biden had weighed in, telling him, “Stop it, stop it now, Joe.”

The killing of the World Central Kitchen workers had an impact on tensions between Washington and Jerusalem, as well as vice president joe Biden’s complaints that Israel did not do enough to curb the deaths of civilians. Mr. Biden called himself “outraged and heartbroken” over the incident and made a point of calling José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded World Central Kitchen, to express his condolences.

A senior Biden administration official said the Israelis had yet to tell the US any initial findings from their investigation as of Thursday morning.

The Outrage of Israel: The World Central Kitchen in Gaza is Still Trying to Kill Israel, Doesn’t It Really Matter Where the U.S. Help It Gets?

Zomi Frankcom and Damian Soból arrived in Gaza on a mission to feed Palestinians, documenting their efforts in social media videos like these. Then on April 1, they were killed by Israeli airstrikes, along with five other colleagues, bringing the work of the World Central Kitchen in Gaza to a halt. The charity’s videos offer a rare window into the challenges of food distribution in Gaza, a territory on the brink of famine that’s been cut off from the outside world. The earthquake in Haiti led to the creation of World Central Kitchen. The organization brings meals to areas impacted by natural disasters or conflict, including communities displaced inside Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks. The group said it delivered more than 45 million meals to Palestinians through community kitchens. The first ship to deliver aid by sea was carrying nearly 200 tons of food from Cyprus. The Israeli military released footage of the coordination behind that effort in which food was brought to northern Gaza. It is my hope that we can bring millions of meals a day. We may fail, but the biggest failure will be not trying.” There was a second delivery on the way before the attack. In a video statement, the Israeli military called the attack a grave mistake. Since Oct. 7, nearly 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, according to the U.N. And for now, the World Central Kitchen has suspended its operations there.

Ben Rhodes, who was a deputy national security adviser to President Obama, claimed that the U.S. government is still providing bombs and weapons to Israel. “Until there are substantive consequences, this outrage does nothing. Bibi obviously doesn’t care what the U.S. says, its about what the U.S. does.”

President Biden threatened on Thursday to condition future support for Israel on how it addresses his concerns about civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, attempting for the first time to leverage American aid to influence the conduct of the war against Hamas.

We will be able to defend ourselves and we’ll attack those that plan to harm us, just as we attack those who plan to attack us.

In a separate video statement, he focused on the threat he sees from Iran. “For years Iran has been acting against us, both directly and though its proxies, and therefore Israel is acting against Iran and its proxies, in both defensive and offensive operations,” he said, referring to an Israeli airstrike that killed seven Iranian military officers in Syria this week.

Mr Netanyahu said that there was an attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state which would be another launching ground for an attempt like the Hamas state in Gaza. That is opposed by a large group of Israelis.

Mr. Netanyahu did not immediately release a description of the call, but in other comments on Thursday appeared unbowed. The prime minister disagreed with Mr. Biden’s position on the two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict.

“I think we’re at that point,” Mr. Coons said on CNN on Thursday morning, adding that if Mr. Netanyahu were to order the Israeli military into the southern Gaza city of Rafah in force and “drop thousand-pound bombs and send in a battalion to go after Hamas and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid, that I would vote to condition aid to Israel.”

The president has resisted curbs on the arms flow to Israel in order to affect its conduct of the war, as his advisers argue that many of the weaponry sent are air defense missiles. But even some of Mr. Biden’s close Democratic allies have increasingly come around to the view that Washington should exercise more control over the weaponry, including Senator Chris Coons, a fellow Democrat from Delaware and confidant of the president.

We want to see some real changes on the Israeli side. And if we don’t see changes from their side, there will have to be changes from our side,” Kirby told reporters.

“He said that the U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be decided by our assessment of the actions taken by Israel.” He urged the prime minister to allow his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home, as he underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilization and improve the humanitarian situation.

Israel did not give an immediate reply to the White House’s report of the conversation, but on Wednesday, an Israeli official blamed the disagreements on the UN Security Council’s approval of the cease-fire resolution.

The official said in a news conference that the U.S. move caused harm to the negotiations, because Hamas hardened its positions. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The National Security Council said at the time the vote did not indicate a policy change and that the administration was perplexed by Israel’s apparent outrage.

Negotiators had been working toward a temporary cease-fire that would take effect during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in exchange for the release of hostages. The end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is just a week away.

“The president made clear that absent changes in the protection of civilians on the ground, absent changes to the volume of humanitarian assistance getting in, absent any movement on a cease-fire that will allow hostages to get out and more aid to get in — absent a calming-down — that he will have to reconsider his own policy choices with respect to Gaza,” Kirby said.