President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s phone call on Thursday will mark the two leaders’ first phone call since an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza.
In the aftermath of those deaths, Biden is “angry” and “increasingly frustrated” – and fully prepared to make all of that known to Netanyahu in their conversation, according to a senior administration official.
“He will express those frustrations,” they said.
White House officials have emphasized in the wake of the aid workers’ deaths that the US’ stance in supporting Israel’s current military operation remains unchanged.
There has simply been no “shift in policy,” the senior administration official said. “What there has been is a shift is the president’s frustrations.”
While the deaths of the World Central Kitchen aid workers will serve as the urgent backdrop for Thursday’s call, Biden is also expected to discuss with Netanyahu a number of other issues in addition to the need to better protect humanitarian aid workers in Gaza. They include ramping up humanitarian aid entering Gaza, the ongoing hostages and ceasefire deal talks, as well as the US’ concerns about a potential ground incursion into Rafah.
The Biden administration, in private conversations with the Israel Defense Forces and members of the Israeli government, has demanded that the military make changes to the way information is transmitted about where aid workers are stationed, according to a US official, and the president plans to communicate that in no uncertain terms in his phone call Thursday with Netanyahu.
“Either the information [about the convoy] didn’t make it past the targeting team, or it was disregarded. Either way it’s a…
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