Joe Biden has made some interesting comments on Israel-Gaza overnight, which were a little lost in the chaos surrounding the criticism of his state of mind.
In a hastily arranged and short news conference called so he could defend the criticism of his memory, he said: “I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top.”
He then added: “I think that, as you know, initially the president of Mexico [he meant to say Egypt] el Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in.
“I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu] to open the gate on the Israeli side.”
The president continued: “I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard, to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza. There are a lot of innocent people who are starving. There are a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying. And it’s got to stop.”
He said he hoped that a deal for a pause in fighting, which would lead to something more sustained, could be reached soon.
But three days ago, Mr Netanyahu dismissed any prospect of a deal based on the latest Hamas proposal.
His language – “over the top” – is perhaps a little stronger than comments about Israel’s strategy in Gaza before, though in December he did call Israel’s bombing “indiscriminate”.
Broadly, however, this did not feel like a massive shift in tone.
It felt more like an attempt to deflect from the fallout from criticism of his memory.
He knows that his pro-Israel stance is hurting him hugely among young voters he desperately needs.
Almost 28,000 Palestinians killed, Gaza health ministry reports
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has released updated statistics on the number of people killed in the enclave since 7 October.
In all 27,947 Palestinians have been killed and 67,459 have been injured in Israeli strikes, it says.
The ministry says 107 Palestinians have been killed and 142 injured in the past 24 hours.
These figures do not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
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