US President Joe Biden described the Israeli response in the Gaza Strip as exceeding the limit, in unprecedented statements criticizing Israeli behavior. Biden added that he is working to reach a sustainable cessation of fighting. He revealed that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi did not initially want to open the Rafah crossing for aid to enter Gaza, but he spoke to him and convinced him to open it, according to what he said.

In a surprise speech at the White House on Wednesday evening, Biden said that he had put strong pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, where “there are many innocent people, women and children, who are starving and in dire need of it,” as he put it.

The American President spoke about the contacts he has been conducting since the beginning of the war with Qatari, Egyptian, and even Saudi officials, in order to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, stressing that he is pushing hard to bring aid into the Strip.

He added during his speech that he was pressing hard to reach a truce agreement that included the release of detainees held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

After Washington announced its full support for the Israeli war on Gaza and its rejection of a permanent ceasefire, the pressure on the US President’s administration increased and in recent weeks some differences in priorities began to appear between the White House and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and American statements witnessed a change in Washington’s language towards Netanyahu’s government. .

Rafah operation

Earlier Thursday, the White House said that it would not support any Israeli plans to carry out major military operations in Rafah, and that negotiations were continuing regarding the release of detainees and the completion of a truce agreement in Gaza.

Strategic Communications Coordinator for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, said that parts of Hamas' response "were very positive and others require more work," noting that work is being done around the clock, and that Washington is optimistic about reaching an agreement.

Kirby stressed, "Any major military operation in Rafah at this time, and under these circumstances, and with the presence of more than a million - and perhaps more than a million and a half - Palestinians seeking asylum and looking for shelter in Rafah without taking into account the duty of their safety, will be a disaster, and will not "We support it."

He said that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made clear the United States' concerns about such operations.

On Thursday, the Israeli occupation forces bombed areas in the border city in the southern Gaza Strip, where more than half of the Strip’s population took refuge, but Kirby pointed out that Washington did not see convincing plans that the Israeli army was about to launch a military operation in Rafah.

The devastating Israeli war on Gaza has entered its fifth month, and most of its victims are children and women, according to the Palestinian authorities. It has also caused “massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to the United Nations.

In the latest statistics, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said yesterday, Thursday, that at least 27,840 Palestinians were killed and 67,317 were injured in the Israeli aggression on the Strip since October 7.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies