President Joe Biden admitted he advised Israel to delay its Gaza ground invasion to ensure he could secure the release of over 220 hostages, but said he hasn’t pressured Israel on the issue.
“I have indicated that if it’s possible to get these folks out safely that is what he should do,” Biden told reporters in Washington.
“It’s their [Israel’s] decision, but I didn’t demand it. I pointed out to him that if it’s real it should be done,” Biden said.
Earlier in Jerusalem Netanyahu gave a public address in which he pledged an IDF ground campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza. He didn’t, however, give a start date.
“We are preparing for ground entry. I will not detail when, how and how much, nor the set of considerations that we take into account, the vast majority of which are not known to the public at all – and it should be,” Netanyahu said.
US President Joe Biden told reporters in Washington that he had pointed out to Netanyahu the wisdom of holding off on a ground invasion to see if he could first secure the release of the hostages.
“I have indicated that if it’s possible to get the folks out safely that is what he should do,” Biden said.
In Israel, Netanyahu stressed in his public address that,
“We are in the midst of a battle for our existence.” Netanyahu spoke after the security cabinet met on the 19th day of the war as the question of a ground campaign has slowly become more a question of not when, but if.
There are two goals to the war, Netanyahu said.
The first is to “eliminate Hamas by destroying its military and governmental capabilities, and to do everything possible to return our captives home,” he emphasized.
Defense Minister Galant, Minister Benny Gantz, the Security Cabinet, the IDF Chief of Staff and the heads of the defense branches have worked around the clock to organize a victorious military campaign, he said.
Netanyahu: no political considerations now.
The only consideration is a successful strategy Netanyahu said.
“We do this without political considerations. What stands before our eyes is only one thing – saving the country , the achievement of victory,” Netanyahu said.
In the last weeks, since Hamas’ assault on southern Israel on October 7, that sparked a new Gaza war, world leaders have streamed into Israel to discuss the campaign.
The issue is personal for many of them, because their citizens were among the 1,400 civilians and soldiers Hamas killed during its assault as well as among the over 220 it took captive.
Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Israel to discuss the military campaign as well as prevent the Gaza war from being regionalized. They have warned Iran and Hezbollah not to get involved, even as the US has moved military assets into the region and France is weighing wether it would also be involved militarily in some way.
Macron called for international coalition
French President Emmanuel Macron who visited Israel on Tuesday called for an international coalition to defeat Hamas, explaining that the battle against it was a global one.
The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. and Israeli officials, reported that Israel had agreed to delay invading Gaza for now so the U.S. can rush missile defenses to the region to protect its forces there – reflecting Washington’s concern that escalating war in Gaza could ignite the wider Middle East.
U.S. officials have so far persuaded Israel to hold off until U.S. air-defense systems can be placed in the region, as early as this week, the WSJ said.
The U.S. military and other officials believe their forces will be targeted by Iran-backed Islamist militant groups once the invasion of Gaza by close U.S. ally Israel starts.
In his Wednesday night speech, Netanyahu said, he has spoken with world leaders about the international nature of the battle against Hamas, explaining that Israel’s war is a global one.
“We are enlisting the support of world leaders to continue the [military] campaign in Gaza.
“Many of them understand today what we have been telling them repeatedly since 2014: Hamas is ISIS – and ISIS is Hamas. I tell them that our war on Hamas is also their war. Our war with Hamas is a test for all humanity. This is a struggle between the evil axis of Iran-Hezbollah and Hamas, and the axis of freedom and progress,” Netanyahu said.
World leaders have also stressed that Israel must protect civilians as it routs out Hamas.
Close to 6,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since the start of the war, according to Hamas. Israel has not given a number of the fatalities, but has said the deaths were caused either by IDF aerial bombings or by failed Palestinian rocket launches.
World leaders have also weighed in on the strategy of rite release of hostages, the impotence providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians and ensuring that Israel allows such assistance to flow through the Egyptian Rafah crossing into Gaza.
Reuters contributed to this report
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