US President Joe Biden said Thursday that Israel’s military response to the October 7 Hamas attack in Gaza was “overreach.” “You know, I think the implementation of the Gaza response in the Gaza Strip has gone too far,” he told reporters at the White House.
Mr. Biden emphasized efforts to continue to halt the long-awaited hostage trade and fighting, saying, “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, and there are a lot of innocent people who are falling into hardship and dying. We need to stop this.” I have to,” he said.
Meanwhile, the administration outlined conditions for recipients of U.S. military aid in a new memorandum. That is, Washington requires “credible written assurances” regarding compliance with international law, including international human rights law.
The document, which does not mention any country, comes amid growing calls in the United States to make aid to Israel conditional on concerns about Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) operations in Gaza.
Regarding the negotiation process, Biden mentioned Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and said he had spoken to the “President of Mexico.” This isn’t the first time the oldest US president in history has gotten his name mixed up recently. Earlier this week, he reportedly referred to a conversation he had with Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2021 as one with late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
At a hearing into the mishandling of classified documents, the US president said, “I don’t have any problems with my memory.”