The US president told Benjamin Netanyahu that continued US support depends on Israel taking steps to address suffering in Gaza, his strongest rebuke of Israel since the war began.

In a roughly 30-minute phone call with Israel’s prime minister on Thursday night, Joe Biden warned that Israel must “take immediate action” to reduce harm to civilians and reiterated that an immediate ceasefire was “necessary.”

He ordered Israel to take “concrete, concrete and measurable” measures to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers, stressing that attacks on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation were “unacceptable.”

The White House said the president “made clear that U.S. policy toward Gaza will depend on our assessment of Israel taking these immediate steps.”

On Monday, Israel attacked an aid convoy in Gaza, killing seven humanitarian workers at the World Central Kitchen.

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Biden was described as angry and heartbroken after the attack, but before Thursday there appeared to be no fundamental change in U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas.

In today’s call, the president stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire “to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians” and urged Mr Netanyahu to reach an agreement with armed groups to bring the remaining hostages home “immediately” .

The US Secretary of State in Brussels also called on Israel, as a democratic country, to value human life.

“Israel is a democracy. Hamas is a terrorist organization,” Antony Blinken said. “Democracies place the highest value on human life – every human life. As they say, whoever saves a life saves the entire world. This is our strength. This is our fight against terrorists like Hamas the difference.

“If we lose respect for human life, we risk becoming indistinguishable from the people we confront.”

He added that the “horrific attack” on World Central Kitchen workers must be the last such incident. “Right now, there is nothing more important in Gaza than protecting civilians, increasing humanitarian aid, and ensuring the safety of those delivering aid. Israel must rise to the occasion,” he said.