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SvennoJ on 09 February 2024
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Has Biden finally actually seen what's happening instead of relying on Israel's reports.

Biden says Israel's Gaza response "has been over the top"

US President Joe Biden late Thursday offered one of his sharpest rebukes to date of Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, saying the operation to go after Hamas had been “over the top.”

“I’m of the view that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top.

I think that, as you know, initially, the president of Mexico [sic] Sisi [Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-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 [Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu] to open the gate on the 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. A lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying and it’s got to stop – number one.

Number two – I was also in the position that I’m the guy that made the case that we have to do much more to increase the amount of material going in, including fuel, including other items. I’ve been on the phone with the Qataris. I’ve been on the phone with the Egyptians. I’ve been on the phone with the Saudis to get as much aid as we possibly can into Gaza.

There are innocent people, and innocent women and children who are also in badly need of help. And so that’s what we are pushing. And I’m pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire.

Because, you know, I’ve been working tirelessly on this deal – how can I say this without revealing – to lead to a sustained pause in the fighting, in the actions taking place in the Gaza Strip. And, because I think if we can get the delay, for that initial delay, I think that we would be able to extend that so that we could increase the prospect that this fighting in Gaza changes.”

Delivered at the very end of a fiery evening news conference, Biden’s remarks offered a new window into his view of the four-month conflict, which has tested American diplomacy and exposed divisions within his Democratic coalition.

His assessment of the Israeli military campaign as excessive marked a new stage in Biden’s public posturing on the war. For much of the months since October 7, Biden has embraced Israel and staunchly defended its right to go after Hamas.

 

Biden: Countries must adhere to international law if receiving US military aid

US President Joe Biden has issued a memorandum laying out the standards that countries receiving US military aid must adhere to. The memorandum does not outline new guidelines but calls for the State Department to receive written assurances from countries that they will abide by current US standards. The move comes amid growing tensions between Washington the Tel Aviv over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.

The national security memorandum also, for the first time, requires the US government to submit an annual report to Congress on whether countries are meeting those requirements. “The Secretaries of State and Defense are responsible for ensuring that all transfers of defense articles and defense services … are conducted in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” a White House press release said in relation to the memorandum.

US Senator says working with White House to ‘hold the Israeli government accountable’

Elizabeth Warren has said that she has been working with the Biden administration to “hold the Israeli government accountable for upholding international law”.

Warren’s comments came in response to the White House announcing that a new memorandum had been issued laying out the standards that countries receiving US military aid must adhere to. The memorandum will also require the State Department to submit an annual report to Congress on whether countries are meeting the requirements. “US military aid cannot be a blank check for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing government to kill tens of thousands of Palestinians,” Warren wrote on X.

Over the top is quite the understatement.

Israel’s bombing of Gaza homes leaves 12 million tonnes of debris to clear: UN

More than 650,000 people have no homes left to return to in Gaza and many more will be unable to return to their residences due to damage inflicted by Israel’s war on the territory and the risks posed by explosives left over from the fighting.

There is also an estimated 12 million tonnes of debris from Israel’s destruction of residential houses in the Palestinian territory that will take more than four years to clear, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in its latest situation report.

Civilians continued to be reported killed in large numbers over Wednesday and Thursday, while the risk of famine in Gaza grows by the day, particularly for hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the territory who have been cut off from aid deliveries, UNOCHA said.

  • Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported a further 130 killed and 170 injured in a 24-hour period up to Thursday afternoon.
  • On Wednesday, 13 people were killed while waiting to receive water from a distribution truck that was attacked in an Israeli strike.
  • On the same day, a group of people were attacked with multiple casualties reported while awaiting humanitarian aid trucks in Gaza City.
  • The attack was at least the sixth on people in Gaza City while they waited for the distribution of humanitarian aid.
  • Fourteen people, including five children, were killed on Thursday night when Israel attacked two houses in Rafah.