![]() ABIR SULTAN/Pool via REUTERSIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it would be a “surrender” to Hamas and terrorism. As of Monday evening, Israeli troops had advanced an estimated two miles into Gaza and rescued
an Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas. There are signs of cracks in
the U.S.-Israel alliance, however, with President Biden and his top
national security officials becoming “more critical of Israel’s response
to the terrorist attacks and the unfolding humanitarian crisis,” writes the New York Times. The White House insisted
it doesn’t support a ceasefire, but has been carefully pressing for
what officials call a “humanitarian pause” to briefly allow for aid to
flow into Gaza amid reports
of packed hospitals and deprivation as hundreds of thousands of
residents flee northern areas Israel has called on civilians to
evacuate. Israel has rebuffed those pleas, although officials say they
are ramping up
the amount of aid they will allow into the enclave. While Biden has
been a forceful defender of Israel and its right to respond militarily
against Hamas, the administration has grown increasingly worried about
the humanitarian situation in Gaza, violence by radical settlers in the West Bank, and the fate of hostages still held by Hamas. |