Israeli soldiers wave from a tank near the border between Gaza and southern Israel on Tuesday.
Tsafrir Abayov | AP photo
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RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel and the United States on Tuesday showed their sharpest public disagreement yet over the conduct and future of the war against Hamas as the two allies became increasingly isolated by global calls for a cease-fire.
The dispute emerged while Israeli forces carried out strikes across Gaza, crushing Palestinians in homes.
President Joe Biden said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” and that Netanyahu should change his government, which is dominated by hard-right parties.
Biden’s comments came as the White House national security adviser heads to Israel this week to discuss with Netanyahu a timetable for the war — and what happens if Hamas is defeated. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Israel next week for a visit the Pentagon said aims to show U.S. support for Israel but also to press the need to avoid more civilian casualties in Gaza.
The war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel has already brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with much of northern Gaza obliterated, more than 18,000 Palestinians killed and over 80% of the population of 2.3 million pushed from their homes.
The U.S. has urged Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties since it launched its invasion of southern Gaza at the beginning of the month. But the toll has continued to mount at seemingly the same dizzying rate.
The health care system and humanitarian aid operations have collapsed in large parts of Gaza, amid Israel’s blockade of the territory and intense airstrikes and fighting, and aid workers have warned of starvation and the spread of disease among displaced people in overcrowded shelters and tent camps.
Biden’s comments were a startlingly direct criticism of Israel even as his administration continues to give unwavering diplomatic and military support for the military campaign in Gaza in the face of mounting international outrage.
The U.N. secretary-general and Arab states have rallied much of the international community behind calls for an immediate cease-fire. But the U.S. vetoed those efforts at the U.N. Security Council last week as it rushed tank munitions to Israel to allow it to maintain the offensive.
A nonbinding vote on a similar resolution at the U.N. General Assembly passed overwhelmingly Tuesday. The vote demanding a cease-fire is largely symbolic, but it serves as an important barometer of world opinion.
Israel launched the campaign after Hamas and other militants streamed into the south on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 240 others hostage. About half of those remain in captivity. At least 105 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive, the army says.
Israel and the U.S. say any cease-fire that leaves Hamas in power would mean victory for the militant group, which has governed Gaza since 2007 and has pledged to destroy Israel. Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas, saying it positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense urban areas, using civilians as human shields.
But the two allies have also had differences over the timetable of the war and over how Gaza should be ruled in the future.
In a briefing with the AP on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the current phase of heavy ground fighting and airstrikes could stretch on for weeks and further military activity could continue for months.
Netanyahu has said the military will have to keep open-ended security control of Gaza after the war ends.
The Biden administration has said Israel should not return to a military occupation and the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza as talks resume on creating a Palestinian state next to Israel.
Netanyahu appeared to firmly rule that out Tuesday, acknowledging “there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas.’”
“I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” he said, referring to the peace process in the 1990s that created the Palestinian Authority and was intended to reach a two-state solution. The authority governs pockets of the occupied West Bank and governed Gaza until the Hamas takeover in 2007.