US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Israel’s military response in the Gaza Strip to Hamas’s October 7 attacks has been “over the top.”
“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,” the 81-year-old Democrat told reporters at the White House.
A wave of attacks against US forces in the region and domestic and international criticism of the Biden administration have resulted from US support for Israel’s fight against the Palestinian organization Hamas.
An acute humanitarian catastrophe has been exacerbated by months of bombardment and blockade, particularly in southern Gaza.
However, Biden claimed to have pressed for the delivery of aid to Gaza.
He said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi initially “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 the Israeli side,” Biden continued, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”
An AFP count based on official Israeli data puts the dead toll from Hamas’s unprecedented onslaught on Israel on October 7 at over 1,160, most of them civilians.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel murdered at least 27,840 individuals, predominantly women and children, during airstrikes and a military invasion that it started with the goal of eliminating Hamas.
Some 250 hostages were taken by Hamas as well. 29 people are thought to have perished out of the 132 who Israel claims are still in Gaza.
Iran-backed organizations supporting Hamas have increased their aggression throughout the region as a result of the war, prompting retaliatory strikes from Israel, the US, and its allies.
