Miriam Alster/Pool/Reuters/File
In this October 2023 photo, President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas.
Washington
CNN
—
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Thursday for the first time since Israel’s deadly attack on a convoy of aid workers in the Gaza Strip, U.S. officials said.
Israel has accepted responsibility for the strike but said the convoy was not targeted and the workers’ deaths were unintentional. The country continues to investigate the circumstances of the murder.
The strike, which killed seven World Central Kitchen employees, including dual U.S. and Canadian citizens, caused uproar within President Biden’s White House, even as the administration’s public support for Israel remains unwavering. caused.
In a statement reacting to Tuesday’s attack, Biden explicitly condemned Israel for failing to protect aid workers and civilians in the Gaza Strip and said he was outraged by the death of the World Central Kitchen worker. “An incident like yesterday should never happen,” he added. ”
However, the attack still does not appear to threaten Israel’s relationship with its largest and most important ally, the United States. Mr. Biden is expected to greenlight an $18 billion sale of fighter jets from the United States and Israel, three people familiar with the matter said. Approved transfer to Israel. Case.
The president has called for a temporary ceasefire, including the release of hostages held by Hamas, and has repeatedly said he does not want Israel to launch a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, where dozens of displaced people have taken refuge. However, the president complied. So far, they have stopped short of calling for a permanent ceasefire.
Biden’s reluctance to do so is increasingly out of step with the actions and public statements of other world leaders, including U.S. allies.
Biden said last month that Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping it,” and Netanyahu in turn said Biden was wrong in his assessment of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Although Biden has criticized Netanyahu’s approach to conducting the war, his message of support for Israel has remained unchanged since the deadly attack.
“We want to be clear here that while we take issue with aspects of how the operation is being conducted, Israel still has the right to protect itself from threats that still exist. “We continue to believe that there is a Hamas group, and we continue to act on that belief,” White House National Security Council Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. “They still have every right and responsibility to the people to eliminate that threat after October 7th.
“And our support for Israel continues,” he added.
