ADDS WHITE HOUSE COMMENTS, BACKGROUND IN GRAFS 6-8, 10; REVISES LEAD
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden told Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu that the killing of aid workers in Gaza is "unacceptable," and warned Thursday that future US support for the war will depend on his counterpart's implementation of major reforms.
Biden "emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable," the White House said in a statement about the telephone call.
The comments come after Israel carried out strikes Tuesday on a humanitarian convoy in central Gaza that killed seven aid workers in what the group's founder called a "direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the Israel Defense Forces."
The White House said 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.”
"He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps,” it said.
The White House later declined to specify what steps the president is taking into consideration. But it said the US expects to see Israel take several steps "in the coming hours and days," including allowing a "dramatic increase in the humanitarian assistance" into Gaza and opening up additional border crossings for aid deliveries.
That is in addition to "a reduction in the violence against civilians and certainly aid workers," said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
"We want to we want to see that even as the Israelis work through their investigation that they are willing and able to take practical, immediate steps to protect aid workers on the ground and to demonstrate that they have that civilian harm mitigation in place," he added about Israel's internal probe into the strikes Tuesday.
The president further threw his weight behind an immediate cease-fire to halt the violence in the coastal enclave "to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians. He implored Netanyahu "to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home," it said.
Biden's urging is the first known time he has directly appealed to Netanyahu for an immediate halt to the violence in Gaza and comes as he faces increasing domestic pressure to call for a truce ahead of November's presidential election.
Hamas said earlier Thursday that there is still no progress in indirect talks with Israel on a cease-fire deal because Tel Aviv is "intransigent," and has rejected every proposal that has been put forward.
The talks, which are being mediated by Egypt and Qatar with US support, are seeking to broker a truce in exchange for the release of hostages that remain in Hamas captivity following an Oct. 7 cross-border attack.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive across Gaza in retaliation for the attack, which killed less than 1,200 people and led to roughly 250 hostages being taken back to Gaza as captives. Roughly 130 are still being held.
Nearly 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,577 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.
Biden's call with Netanyahu comes after a strike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria that killed senior military officials, including two top generals on Monday.
Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the attack and vowed to respond to the deadly strike. Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but it follows a string of strikes that it has been conducting across Syria that targeted Iranian and Iran-backed figures.
The Israeli military on Thursday halted leave for its combat forces, called up reserves, and extended jamming of GPS services in the country amid the soaring tensions.
The White House said that during Biden's call with Netanyahu, the leaders "discussed public Iranian threats against Israel and the Israeli people."
"President Biden made clear that the United States strongly supports Israel in the face of those threats," it said in the readout of the call.