Israel to add aid routes to Gaza after Biden's tense call with Netanyahu

President Biden threatened Thursday to condition his future support for Israel on how it addresses its concerns about civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, urging Israel to engage to allow the entry of more food and other supplies. the besieged enclave in hopes of appeasing it.

During a tense 30-minute call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Biden for the first time leveraged American aid to influence the conduct of the war against Hamas that inflamed many Americans and others around the world. The announcement of additional aid routes hours later met some, but not all, of Mr. Biden's requests.

“President Biden stressed that strikes against aid workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,” according to a White House summary of the appeal. “He clearly emphasized the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete and measurable measures to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers. He made clear that U.S. policy toward Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action on these measures. on Israel's conduct during its six-month war against Hamas, highlighting the president's growing frustration with Mr. Netanyahu and his anger over the killing this week of seven aid workers by Israeli military forces. But while the president reiterated his call for a negotiated agreement that would result in an "immediate ceasefire" and the release of hostages taken by Hamas, White House officials did not go so far as to directly say that he could limit arms deliveries to the United States if he was not satisfied.

ImageA group inspecting the damage after an airstrike in Rafah, in the south of the Strip from Gaza on Thursday. The president has long resisted curbing the flow of weapons to Israel.Credit...Fatima Shbair/Associated Press

In the middle of the night in Jerusalem, Israel carried out his first gesture to Mr. Biden. In a statement, a US National Security Council spokeswoman said Israel had agreed to use the port of Ashdod to deliver aid to Gaza, to open the Erez crossing to northern Gaza for the first time since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, and to significantly increase deliveries from Jordan.

We are experiencing difficulties in recovering the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode, please exit and sign in to your Times account, or subscribe to the full Times.

...