Israel-Gaza: Netanyahu says he’ll CONTINUE attacks after Biden demanded ‘significant de-escalation’
Netanyahu says he will CONTINUE Gaza attacks after Biden told him he expected ‘significant de-escalation today on the path to ceasefire’
- President Biden hardened public stance on Israel in a phone call Wednesday morning
- ‘The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire,’ said the White House
- The aim is a ‘sustainable calm,’ added a spokeswoman traveling with the president on Air Force One
- But Prime Minister Netanyahu said he was ‘determined to continue this operation until its aim is met’
- Earlier he insisted he did not ‘rule out anything’ in tackling Hamas
- At least 219 Palestinians have died in the fighting, according to the Gaza ministry of health
- Twelve people have been killed in Israel since tensions erupted into violence on May 10
- Biden’s shift came after Rep. Rashida Tlaib told him Palestinian human rights were ‘not a bargaining chip’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was ‘determined’ to continue the operation in Gaza until his objectives had been met, shrugging off U.S. President Joe Biden’s demand to de-escalate hostilities.
After a visit to military headquarters, he said he appreciated American support but would push ahead until calm had been restored.
His response came hours after Biden told him in a phone call to scale back attacks that have killed hundreds of Palestinians.
It marked a shift from Biden’s public position of support for Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas rocket attacks and follows another night of strikes against targets in Gaza.
At least six people died in airstrikes in Gaza Wednesday as international pressure for a ceasefire grew
Relatives of Palestinian Mahmoud Shtawi, 19, mourn during his funeral on Wednesday in Gaza City after he was killed in an Israeli air strike
But the president has faced pressure from within his own party to take a tougher line against Israeli strikes.
‘The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire,’ said the White House.
A spokeswoman offered more details about Wednesday’s phone call, which is the fourth between the two men.
‘The two leaders had a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel’s progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States,’ Jean-Pierre told DailyMail.com and other reporters traveling with the president aboard Air Force One.
The aim is a ‘sustainable calm,’ she added.
‘We have had over 60 calls, from the president on down, with senior leaders in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other leaders in the region,’ she said.
‘The president has done this for a long time, for decades, he believes this is the approach we need to be taking. He wants to make sure we end the violence and the suffering we have seen for the Palestinian and Israeli people.’
But she declined to respond directly when pressed for how Netanyahu had responded to Biden’s statements on the call.
A rocket fired from Gaza which landed on a road near Ad Halom just outside Ashdod on Wednesday. There were no injuries reported
Biden’s stance on Israel faces opposition from within his own party and on Tuesday Rep. Rashida Tlaib confronted the president, reportedly saying he must do more to address what she and other progressives see as Israeli aggression
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he shows a slideshow during a briefing to ambassadors to Israel at a military base in Tel Aviv on Wednesday
Netanyahu delivered his response later Wednesday, insisting Israel would push ahead ‘to return the calm and security to you, citizens of Israel.’
He said he was ‘determined to continue this operation until its aim is met’ in a sign of a growing rift between the U.S. and Israel.
Biden’s more strident public stance followed earlier reports he privately told Netanyahu that he could not shield him from criticism indefinitely.
It follows repeated public statements from Washington that Israel has the right to defend itself while rockets are fired from Gaza.
But the president came face to face with the anger within his own party about Israeli aggression on Tuesday, when he was confronted by Rep. Rashida Tlaib during a visit to Detroit.
She told the president he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights.
‘Palestinian human rights are not a bargaining chip and must be protected, not negotiated,’ Tlaib told him, according to her congressional office.
A Palestinian uses a slingshot during an anti-Israel protest over a cross-border violence between Palestinian militants in Gaza and the Israeli military, near Hawara checkpoint near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday
Relatives of Journalist Yousef Abu Hussein, a Palestinian, weep after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City today
Family and friends mourn during the funeral of Israeli man, Yigal Yehoshua, who died after succumbing to his wounds, sustained during Arab-Jewish violence in the mixed city of Lod, at a cemetery in Moshav Hadid on Tuesday
Smoke rises after Israeli army carried out attacks over buildings in Gaza City, as hostilities entered their tenth day
Netanyahu has so far refused to consider a truce, saying Israel was fighting to restore peace and maximize the chances that a ceasefire with Hamas would hold.
‘There are only two ways that you can deal with them (Hamas): You can either conquer them, and that’s always an open possibility, or you can deter them, and we are engaged right now in forceful deterrence, but I have to say we don’t rule out anything,’ Netanyahu told foreign ambassadors in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
He added the offensive would end when it had achieved its aims.
‘We’re not standing with a stopwatch,’ he said in remarks reported by Israeli media from a closed question-and-answer session.
‘We are taking care of the operation’s objectives.’
Fighting began May 10 when Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem after days of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a flashpoint site sacred to Jews and Muslims.
The IDF began releasing details of its ‘hit list’ as commanders called for more time to continuing hunting Hamas leaders, despite growing calls for a ceasefire. Fighting has now entered its tenth day, with attacks continuing from both sides
Heavy-handed police tactics at the compound and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers had inflamed tensions.
At least 219 Palestinians have been killed in the current fighting, including 63 children and 36 women, with 1,530 people wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad say at least 20 of their fighters have been killed, while Israel says the number is at least 130. Some 58,000 Palestinians have fled their homes.
Twelve people in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier, have been killed.
The Israeli Defense Forces have launched hundreds of airstrikes it says are targeting Hamas’ militant infrastructure, while Palestinian militants have fired more than 3,700 rockets at Israel, with hundreds falling short and most of the rest intercepted. The rockets have reached a number of Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, and have brought life to a standstill in areas near Gaza.
REVEALED: Rashida Tlaib told Biden on tarmac he ‘can’t give right-wing Netanyahu billions each year to bomb schools with US-supplied weapons’ and said Palestinian human rights are ‘not a bargaining chip’
Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib tore into President Biden for giving weapons to Israel and told him ‘you can’t use Palestinian human rights as a bargaining chip’ during their eight-minute tarmac confrontation on Tuesday, it has been revealed.
The ‘squad’ member delivered the stark lecture to the president as congressional Democrats push Biden to put more public pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
‘Palestinian human rights are not a bargaining chip and must be protected, not negotiated,’ Tlaib told him, according to her congressional office.
‘The U.S. cannot continue to give the right-wing Netanyahu government billions each year to commit crimes against Palestinians,’ she continued, an aide told NPR.
‘Atrocities like bombing schools cannot be tolerated, much less conducted with U.S.-supplied weapons.’
‘Palestinian human rights are not a bargaining chip and must be protected, not negotiated,’ Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib told President Joe Biden during an intense tarmac conversation Tuesday, according to her congressional office.
Biden could be seen speaking to Tlaib in an intense eight-minute conversation on the tarmac in Detroit, where he flew to tour a Ford plant Tuesday.
He acknowledged her later when he gave a speech at the plant, telling her: ‘You’re a fighter, and God thank you for being a fighter.’
The last White House readout of a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu said he expressed his ‘support’ for a cease fire, but stopped short of saying he demanded an immediate one, as many Democrats are calling for.
Biden is facing political pressure to do more, even amid signals out of Israel that it is looking for the ‘right moment’ to pull back attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza.
Israel is studying whether the time is right to stop its bombing campaign in cause, but is preparing for ‘more days’ of strikes, AFP reported, citing an Israeli military source.
‘We are looking at when is the right moment for a ceasefire,’ said the source.
Amid growing pressure from fellow Democrats, the Administration leaked Tuesday that Biden had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he could only hold off criticism of its strikes in Gaza for a limited period of time. The New York Times reported on the tougher private tone Biden took after the White House said only that he had expressed ‘support’ for a cease fire.
Violent clashes break out between pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Jewish supporters outside the Israeli consulate in NYC
Violence erupted at a pro-Palestinian protest outside the Israeli consulate in New York City amid Israel’s latest offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Multiple arrests were made on Tuesday as protesters clashed with police and pro-Israel demonstrators as clashes continue between Israel and the Palestinian people.
Hundreds of people took place in the ‘Free Palestine‘ protest, chanting and holding Palestinian flags as they walked down Second Avenue and made their way downtown.
Protesters could be heard chanting: ‘Gaza, Gaza don’t you cry, we will never let you die!’
According to a flyer on Twitter, the demonstration was called an ‘Emergency Rally to Defend Palestine,’ and it was one of many that took place throughout the country on Tuesday.
There were also protests in Atlanta, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Boston and Dearborn, Michigan, where President Joe Biden was visiting.
In New York City, the New York Police Department told the public to expect delays and avoid the area in a tweet around 3pm before closing off Manhattan’s FDR Drive to the march. Protestors then redirected to a 17th Police Precinct at 50th Street and 3rd Avenue, where several fights broke out.
Some involved the police officers, and other fights appeared to have been between pro-Palestine and pro-Israeli protestors outside of the Israeli consulate, leading to arrests. No information about arrests were immediately available. DailyMail.com has reached out to the New York Police Department for more information about the incident.
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Multiple arrest and fights break out at a Palestinian March in New York City. The March was stopped from getting onto the FDR and then made its way to a Police Precinct at 50th St and 3rd Avenue
New York Police officers prevented pro-Palestine protestors from getting onto the FDR on Tuesday
Several fights broke out between the pro-Palestine and pro-Israeli protestors
A man was seen taken into custody following one of the brawls. Information about the arrests were not immediately available
Protestors made their way to a police precinct at 50th Street and Third Avenue, where fights broke out
