INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Joe Biden threatened on Thursday to condition support for Israel&s offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to protect aid
workers and civilians, seeking for the first time to leverage United States aid to influence Israeli military behavior, Reuters
reported.Biden&s warning, relayed in a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, followed a deadly Israeli attack on World
Central Kitchen aid workers that spurred new calls from Biden&s fellow Democrats to place conditions on United States aid to Israel
Israel said the attack was a mistake.The United States president, a lifelong supporter of Israel, has resisted pressure to withhold aid or
halt the shipment of weapons to the country
His warning marked the first time he has threatened to potentially condition aid, a development that could change the dynamic of the nearly
six-month-old war.Biden &made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to
address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,& the White House said of the leaders& phone call
It said the call lasted about 30 minutes.The president &made clear that United States policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our
assessment of Israel&s immediate action on these steps,& the White House said in a statement.Washington is Israel&s top weapons supplier and
the Biden administration has mostly provided a diplomatic shield for it at the United Nations, read the report.At a briefing after the call,
White House spokesperson John Kirby declined to elaborate on any specific changes the United States would make in its policy toward Israel
and Gaza.He said Washington hoped to see an announcement of Israeli steps in the &coming hours and days.By suggesting a shift in United
States policy toward Gaza was possible if Israel did not address the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave, Biden channeled his
own frustration along with mounting pressure from his left-leaning political base in the Democratic Party to stop the killings and alleviate
hunger among innocent civilians.Asked about possible changes in United States policy, Netanyahu spokesperson Tal Heinrich told Fox News: &I
think it&s something that Washington will have to explain&.Later, the White House welcomed moves by Israel to open the Ashdod port and Erez
crossing to increase deliveries of humanitarian assistance and to step up deliveries from Jordan directly into Gaza, Reuters reported.But
these steps, said White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson, &must now be fully and rapidly implemented.On Monday, Israel launched an attack
that killed seven workers with the World Central Kitchen group, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres
Andres told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that the Israeli attack had targeted his aid workers &systematically, car by car.Israel
said on Thursday that it would adjust tactics in the Gaza war after describing the attack as the result of a misidentification and that
inquiry findings would be made public soon.The White House had described Biden as outraged and heartbroken by the attack but, prior to
Thursday&s call, the president had made no fundamental change in Washington&s steadfast support for Israel in its conflict against
Palestinian Hamas militants.During the call, Biden &underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the
humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians,& the White House said
Biden urged Netanyahu to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal to bring home hostages captured by Hamas in its deadly Oct
7 attack that triggered the Israeli offensive, it added.In Brussels, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel &must meet
this moment& by surging humanitarian assistance and ensuring the security of those who provide aid.If we don''t see the changes that we need
to see, there&ll be changes in our policy,& Blinken told reporters.A United States official said the threat of policy changes applied only
to the United States demand that Israel do more to protect and aid civilians but not to Biden&s urgency for a ceasefire.Islamist fighters
of the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct
7, killing 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.Israel retaliated by imposing a total siege on Gaza, then
launching an air and ground assault that has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, say health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza, read the
report.Biden, who has described himself as a Zionist, supported Israel staunchly in the early days of its retaliation.But as the Gaza death
toll rose and the war widened with new fronts in Lebanon and Yemen, his administration began pushing for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid
Last month, the United States abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote demanding a ceasefire, drawing Israeli anger.Biden also
faces deep Democratic anger over his handling of the Gaza war, a dynamic that could depress support for him in November&s election contest
against Republican former President Donald Trump.Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced
International Studies in Washington, said the strike on WCK aid workers &was the last straw.This call was the long-promised ‘come to Jesus
conversation& that Biden said last month he would have with Netanyahu,& Blumenfeld said.The post Biden to Netanyahu: Protect civilians in
Gaza or US policy will change first appeared on Ariana News.
