By Jerald Jimenez
04 Jun 2024, 1:34 PM EDT
US President Joe Biden suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the crisis in Gaza to stay in power and expressed concern about rising violence in the strip.
In statements to Time magazine, Biden was asked if he believes Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict in Gaza for reasons of personal political calculation, to which he responded: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
However, the Democratic leader refrained from stating that Netanyahu is the main obstacle to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a broader stability plan for the region that includes Saudi Arabia, several Biden Administration sources cited as saying. by EFE.
Biden also noted in the interview that “it is not clear” whether Israeli forces have committed war crimes in Gaza with their way of acting, which has been criticized and condemned by human rights organizations.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, has been under pressure from the most conservative faction of the Israeli governing coalition to reject a ceasefire engineered with US help. His political survival depends on the continuity of a complex coalition of seven conservative parties, which have differed over how to approach the response to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Biden’s statements come after on May 20, the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders and a few days later the court call for the immediate suspension of military operations in Rafah.
The Biden administration has opposed a large-scale operation in Rafah, fearing the escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, despite being Israel’s main ally.
With information from EFE