THE US has told Israel that its ongoing support on the Gaza war is dependent on “specific, concrete steps” to boost aid and prevent civilian deaths.
President Joe Biden spoke to Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff on Monday.
Israel apologised for a “grave mistake” but WCK founder José Andrés said his workers were systematically targeted.
Mr Biden faces pressure to rein in unconditional military aid for Israel.
In a readout of the telephone call between the two leaders, which lasted less than 30 minutes, the White House said that the president “emphasised that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable”.
“He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,” the summary said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken mirrored the White House statement when he said that if the US did not see changes from Israel, then there would be a change of US policy.
Responding to a question of whether that could affect arms shipments to Israel, the White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he did not want to “preview the steps and decisions” that were yet to be made.
He added that the US expected Israel to improve conditions in Gaza within “hours and days”.
Mr Kirby however stated that US support for “Israel’s self-defence remains iron-clad. The United States isn’t going to walk away from helping Israel defend itself”.
“That said, you can say all that and… still believe that the manner in which they’re defending themselves against the Hamas threat needs to change.”
Israel has yet to comment on the US statements. However, Raquela Karamson, government spokeswoman said before the Biden-Netanyahu call that Israel would “certainly adjust our practices in the future to make sure this does not happen again”.
The US statements are the most strident issued so far on Israel – reflecting President Biden’s “outrage” at the killing of the World Central Kitchen workers, and signalling that there is a limit to US support.
The statement however does not set out which “US policy” areas will be affected – but the bedrock to the US-Israel relationship is the supply of weapons.