Today, Monday, US President Joe Biden discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah, south of the Strip, and efforts made to increase humanitarian aid.

This came, according to what the Associated Press reported from the White House, in the first interaction between them in more than a month, with the growing division between the two allies over the food crisis in Gaza and the course of the war.

According to the White House, Biden discussed with Netanyahu “the recent developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah in the south of the Strip and efforts to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

The call comes after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials expressed their anger after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer strongly criticized Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza, accusing him of "violating the unwritten rule against interfering in the electoral politics of a close ally."

On Thursday, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Israel to hold new elections, and considered that Netanyahu had “lost his way” and had become an “obstacle to peace” in the region, amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Yesterday, Sunday, Netanyahu stressed, during his speech at the beginning of the weekly government meeting, that international pressure on Tel Aviv would not prevent it from continuing the war on Gaza. He said: “We are fighting on two fronts: military and political, and on the political level, the pressure on us is increasing.”

Biden did not endorse Schumer's election call, but said he thought he gave a "good speech" that reflected the concerns of many Americans.

Earlier Monday, the press release for the report in question showed that 70 percent of the population of the northern Gaza Strip, or about 210,000 people, are facing catastrophic hunger.

Israel restricts humanitarian access to Gaza, where approximately 2.3 million Palestinians live; This caused a scarcity of food, water, medicine, and fuel supplies and created a famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly, in light of the presence of about two million displaced people in the besieged sector for 17 years.

This situation prompted the international community, including Israel's allies, led by the United States, to demand that Israel allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, especially to the north, which has been subjected since the beginning of the war to a strict siege that has led to real famine.