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US President Joe Biden: Clear words for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu

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Stephanie Scarbrough/dpa

US President Joe Biden has increased pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to quickly ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian aid workers in the Gaza war. In a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden called for “concrete” and “immediate” steps, according to the White House. He also made it clear that continued US support for Israel in the war against the terrorist organization Hamas depends on such measures.

The US's further course in the conflict depends on Israel's "immediate action" to protect civilians and humanitarian aid workers in the Gaza Strip, Biden said in the phone call, according to the White House. Biden's national security adviser John Kirby said a little later that the US government expects a decrease in violence against civilians and aid workers "in the coming hours and days."

It was the first conversation between Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu since the death of seven employees of the aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) in an Israeli air strike, about which the US President was “outraged”. In a conversation with the Israeli head of government, Biden called the attacks on humanitarian workers and the general humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory "unacceptable," as the White House announced.

Israel must take "a series of specific, concrete and measurable steps" to prevent harm to civilians, reduce human suffering and ensure the safety of aid workers, the US President said.

Security advisor Kirby appealed to Israel to allow a "dramatic increase" in humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip in the "coming hours and days." To do this, additional border crossings would also have to be opened.

In the phone call with Netanyahu, Biden again called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war. This is “indispensable”. According to the White House, the president also urged that Netanyahu authorize his negotiators "without delay" to conclude an agreement on the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas.

Blinken calls for expanded humanitarian aid

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also made it clear that the US government does not consider Israel's efforts to protect civilians to be sufficient. "Despite important steps that Israel has taken to enable aid in the Gaza Strip, the results on the ground are completely inadequate and unacceptable," he said in Brussels. There is currently no higher priority than protecting the civilian population and expanding humanitarian aid, emphasized Blinken.

Blinken discussed the fatal attack on the WCK employees. "The horrific attack on World Central Kitchen this week was not the first such incident," Blinken said. “It has to be the last.” According to the US State Department, 208 humanitarian aid workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began in October 2023.

sol/dpa/AFP