Is Biden pressing Israel to delay Gaza invasion? US President says THIS

Israel can make its own decisions, Joe Biden said, adding that the US firmly backs its ally while urging caution. The statement was made by the president amidst reports of an imminent ground operation in Gaza by Israeli forces.

“Are you urging Israel to delay its ground incursion into Gaza?” Biden was asked on Tuesday, while he was posing for a picture with the visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“The Israelis can make their own decisions,” the US president replied.

US will ensure Israel has tool, capabilities to defend itself

John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters that the US will continue to ensure that Israel has the tools and capabilities it needs to defend itself.

“We’re going to continue to try to get that humanitarian assistance in, and we’re going to continue to try to get hostages and people out of Gaza appropriately,” he said.

“A ceasefire right now really only benefits Hamas. That’s where we are right now. And I understand the question, but I’m just not going to get ahead of where things are,” Kirby said.

“We have and will continue to talk to our Israeli counterparts about the importance of avoiding and minimizing civilian casualties and respecting innocent life and trying to prevent collateral damage as they go after legitimate Hamas targets,” he added.

“This is war, it is combat, it is bloody, it is ugly, and it’s going to be messy and innocent civilians are going to be hurt going forward. I wish I could tell you something different. I wish that wasn’t going to happen, but it is going to happen,” Kirby said in response to a question.

“That doesn’t make it right, it doesn’t make it dismissible, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to still express concerns about that and do everything we can to help the Israelis do everything they can to minimise it, but that’s unfortunately the nature of conflict,” Kirby said.

Israel-Hamas war update

The war was triggered on October 7 after Hamas terrorists carried out unprecedented attacks against Israel, killing more than 1,400 people. Israel has launched a counter-offensive against the Palestinian terrorist group that has ruled Gaza since 2007.

Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant laid out the Jewish nation’s plan to change the security regime” in Gaza– implying Hamas’ removal– and said the plan was designed in three stages.

Gallant said the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) was in the plan’s first stage when it was carrying out aerial strikes. It will be followed by ground incursion and finally, the change of security regime in Gaza, he said.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, so far, over 5,000 Palestinians, including more than 2,000 children and 1,100 women, as well as journalists, medical workers and first responders have been killed, with more than 16,000 injured.

With inputs from PTI