As international outrage over the massacre in Gaza reaches boiling point, US President Joe Biden appears to have finally called out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his unrest and raised the possibility of the US limiting the supply of weapons on which Israel relies.

in a tense 30 minutes TelephoneThe 81-year-old apparently made it clear that continued U.S. support for Israel depends on Israel curbing its fanatical attitude toward civilian deaths and allowing more supplies to be delivered to a population currently facing the threat of starvation.

Israel’s announcement shortly after increasing aid routes shows Netanyahu is listening.More aid is needed more urgently than ever after the Israeli Defense Forces’ shocking destruction of the World Central Kitchen convoy, leading the charity and others to Stop supply to Gaza. White House officials said Netanyahu also pledged to take steps to reduce civilian casualties and step up efforts to reach a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages.

But the death toll in Gaza is staggering, with more than 20,000 civilians expected to die, leaving many — including israel’s traditional ally —wondering why it took Biden so long. For months, it has been clear that Netanyahu’s rough plan — to destroy Hamas by breaking Gaza into pieces and then see what happens — is a disaster.

Perhaps, if Biden had acted forcefully at an early stage, some of the carnage in the enclave might have been partially avoided, and Israel would not have been reduced to the status of an international pariah—something the Hamas barbarians undoubtedly hoped for.

The $64,000 question is whether Biden will actually limit or stop the flow of U.S. weapons to Israel, especially if the IDF launches a full-scale offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which Netanyahu has been threatening for weeks .

Last night, the White House hinted at restrictions on weapons but did not spell it out clearly.

Limiting arms supplies to Israel has been a taboo for both Democratic and Republican presidents.as Aaron David MillerFormer U.S. State Department Middle East analyst foreign policyIt took Biden a long time to get to the point where the threat was — or even possible — to be considered.

“An unusually pro-Israel president, faced with an ongoing conflict between U.S. allies and vicious militant groups, will think long and hard before taking action,” he said.

But the level of civilian deaths in Gaza has shocked the world.Remarkably, in an election year, it shocked a large number of American voters — most of whom No longer supported Israel’s war in Gaza.

Some of Biden’s closest Democratic allies are beginning to believe that Washington should exercise more control over the weapons it ships to Tel Aviv. Among them is Sen. Chris Coons, a fellow Democrat from Delaware and a confidant of the president.

“I think we’ve reached that point,” Coons CNN says On Thursday, “If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders the IDF to enter Rafah en masse, they will drop thousands of pounds of bombs, send a battalion to pursue Hamas, and make no provision for civilians or humanitarian aid.” , I will vote to provide conditional aid to Israel.”

Uri Bar-Yosef, a leading Israeli security expert at the University of Haifa, believes that if the United States needs to take action to prevent Israel from launching a full-scale ground attack on Rafah, then Biden will take this step, “either through a UN veto or through arms restrictions.” “.

But crucially, he believes Netanyahu’s threat of invading Rafah will not happen.

“The threat to capture Rafah is a bluff aimed at forcing Hamas to accept an agreement on hostages,” he said. “We know this is a bluff because most of the Israeli troops have been withdrawing from Gaza for three months. The IDF may be able to do this without the presence of civilians [occupy Rafah] A division or a division and a half.

“But to do something like this to 1.3 million civilians in Rafah, you have to evacuate them somewhere and monitor them, and you need to mobilize the entire Israeli army. The Israeli public is not ready for this.”

Another threat to Israel comes from Hezbollah on its northern border, which has also focused its attention on Israel — and reminded its military leaders that U.S. military support is critical in a conflict with this powerful Iranian proxy. .

A full-scale attack on Rafah could escalate a war with Hezbollah that Israel’s current arsenal cannot sustain in the long term. It’s even possible that America’s determination to support Israel in its ongoing fight against Tehran’s proxies is not aided by naivety and provocation. Iranian consulate attacked In Damascus, two IRGC generals were killed.

Many observers believe the Hezbollah threat cannot be resolved without resolving the Palestinian issue, underscoring Netanyahu’s decision to order the destruction of northern Gaza and subsequent ground invasion without a serious plan for what happens next. Reckless behavior.

Outside the bubble of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, Israelis no longer talk about “total victory” but are reflecting on what has been clear from the start – the need for a long-term strategy.

“But in order to start planning for the next day, Netanyahu has to say something about the Palestinians,” Professor Bar-Yosef said. “That’s unacceptable. [security minister Itamar] Ben Gwire and the far right are backing his coalition.

“This is the most basic point that people need to understand. War has its own logic. Politics has its own logic. But in this extraordinary war, Netanyahu’s human logic, which is, ‘I want to survive’ ”, becomes more important than military or strategic logic; this is what dominates war.”

Another Israeli security commentator, Amos Harrell write on haaretzAgree: “Since the first weeks of the war, we have been witnessing a worrying interaction: an army in shock, feeling guilty about the massacre, and a leader hiding from bad news and prepared to use whatever means Stay in power.”