Biden calls Netanyahu's approach to war against Hamas a 'mistake'

US President Joe Biden says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approach to the war against Hamas is mistaken.

Biden's remarks in a television interview that aired late Tuesday deepen an already growing rift between the two staunch allies over the war, now in its seventh month.

Those disagreements have compounded over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel's expected offensive in the city of Rafah and Israel's recent strike on a humanitarian convoy, which killed seven aid workers, most of them foreigners.

"What he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach," Biden told US Spanish-language broadcaster Univision in an interview conducted on April 3, two days after the strike on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy.

He was responding to a question about whether Netanyahu was letting political considerations steer his decision-making in the war.

Biden said Israel should agree to a cease-fire, flood beleaguered Gaza with aid for the next six to eight weeks and allow regional countries to help distribute the aid. "It should be done now," he said.

International efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas are taking place in Cairo this week.

Israel's bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza over the past six months have killed at least 33,360 Palestinians and wounded 74,993, Gaza's Health Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

The war began October 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

-AP

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