Israel is committed to achieving all its war aims against Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden in a Monday call as Israel faces international pressure to ease its operations in Gaza.
In their first call in more than a month, with Biden increasingly vocal about the war’s impact on civilians, Netanyahu reiterated “Israel’s commitment to achieving all of the war’s objectives,” the Israeli leader said in a statement.
Netanyahu cited the objectives as eliminating Hamas, release of all the hostages and “ensuring that Gaza will never present a threat to Israel.”
He also pointed to the provision of “essential humanitarian aid that helps achieve these aims.”
Netanyahu and Biden last spoke on February 15.
The Israeli leader has rejected pressure from Washington, most recently saying that Israel would push ahead with a plan for an offensive to crush Hamas in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where around 1.5 million people are sheltered.
Israel began relentless bombardment in Gaza, alongside a ground offensive, after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, which left about 1,160 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
The militants also seized hostages, around 130 of whom Israel believes remain in Gaza, including 33 presumed dead.
Nearly 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
