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Biden Threatens US Policy Change Toward Gaza in Warning to Netanyahu
US President Joe Biden, left, pauses during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: Miriam Alster/Pool via REUTERS
The United States on Thursday issued its toughest public rebuke of Israel since its war against Hamas began in the fall, warning that US policy toward Gaza moving forward will be determined by whether Israel takes certain actions to address the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave.
US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “unacceptable” and demanded Jerusalem take significant steps to alleviate the problem, according to a White House readout of the conversation.
Biden “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 statement said.
The White House also appeared to threaten to pull back US support for Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorist group if the Jewish state’s humanitarian measures are deemed insufficient by Washington.
“He [Biden] made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps,” the readout said.
White House spokesperson John Kirby declined at a briefing after the call to elaborate on any specific changes the US would make in its policy toward Israel and Gaza.
Asked about possible changes in US policy, a spokesperson for Netanyahu told Fox News: “I think it’s something that Washington will have to explain.”
The call between the two leaders came after an accidental Israeli military strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy on Monday killed seven aid workers. The White House had described Biden as outraged by the attack. Israeli officials described the incident as a misidentification, saying they would adjust tactics and publicize the findings of a probe into the strike.
In his call, Biden pushed for Israel to agree to an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
“He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the prime minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,” the White House said.
Israel has maintained that any ceasefire agreement must include the release of all its remaining hostages in Gaza. Israeli officials have also cautioned that any long-term truce would allow Hamas to regroup and strengthen its position to continue attacking the Jewish state.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, launched the current war with its invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, when the terrorist group murdered 1,200 people and took 253 others as hostages. Over 100 of those kidnapped were released as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement in November.
Israel responded to the invasion with a military offensive in neighboring Gaza aimed at freeing all the hostages and incapacitating Hamas to the point that it could no longer pose a major threat to the Israeli people. Hamas leaders have pledged to carry out massacres against Israel like the one on Oct. 7 “again and again.”
Biden expressed strong support for Israel following the Oct. 7 onslaught, and since then the US has sent significant amounts of munitions to the Jewish state for its war effort against Hamas. However, as the humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened and civilian casualties have increased, Democrats have increasingly pressured Biden to distance the US from Israel and withhold military aid.
Some prominent observers have suggested that the Biden administration’s changing position on Israel and the war, which has taken place over the last several weeks, may be influenced by domestic political fears of losing electoral support from anti-Israel voters.
In Michigan, for example, a key battleground state and home to America’s largest Arab population, a campaign to vote “uncommitted” during the state’s primary rather than for Biden gained significant support.
Biden was not the only major US official to threaten a change in US policy toward Israel and Gaza on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Brussels that Israel “must meet this moment” by increasing humanitarian assistance and ensuring the security of those who provide aid.
“If we don’t see the changes that we need to see, there’ll be changes in our policy,” Blinken told reporters.
Israel on Wednesday revealed detailed information about the significant amount of humanitarian aid it has provided to Gaza since mid-October. According to the data, Israel authorized the entry of nearly 3,000 trucks into Gaza, carrying a total of 40,475 tons of humanitarian aid such as food, water, medicine, and shelter equipment. An additional 447 tons of material were transported by sea.
Meanwhile, analyses of casualty figures coming out of Gaza suggests the Hamas-controlled health authorities there systematically overcount civilian casualties and undercount terrorist combatants who were killed.
Also on Thursday’s call between Biden and Netanyahu, the two leaders discussed recent public threats by Iranian officials against Israel. Iran is the main international sponsor of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with arms, funding, and training.
“President Biden made clear that the United States strongly supports Israel in the face of those threats,” the White House readout concluded.
The post Biden Threatens US Policy Change Toward Gaza in Warning to Netanyahu first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.