Behind Biden’s shift on Israel-Hamas war: Gaza deaths, international pressure

In response to the Israel-Hamas conflict, U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration have taken a very different stance in recent days. They have gone from supporting Israel unreservedly to highlighting the necessity of defending the Palestinian people in Gaza in anticipation of an impending Israeli ground invasion.

Despite the 1,400-person massacre in southern Israel on October 7 by Hamas terrorists, Biden, according to sources, has not changed his fundamental belief that Israel has the right and necessity to defend itself.

However, several sources both inside and outside the administration claim that Biden’s team has been forced to support a humanitarian pause to Israel’s attacks and to concentrate on providing aid to Palestinians due to the rapidly rising death toll among Palestinians, the challenges of freeing hostages held by Hamas, and an increasingly vocal outcry from Arab nations, European allies, and some Americans at home.

The change in tone was attributed, according to a White House official, to “the facts on the ground” in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is getting worse, and the Biden team’s “conversations with countries around the world.”

According to a former official in contact with current authorities, there has been a backroom struggle between Biden and his advisors on the U.S. message.

“We’ve seen sort of an evolution from sort of full-throated, unconditional hugging of Israel to a little bit more nuance,” said the previous official.

According to local estimates, there are already over 7,000 Palestinians dead in Gaza. The administration had not anticipated this level of deaths or this quick decline in the humanitarian situation, a U.S. official said anonymously.

According to Middle East expert Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “I think the framing has clearly changed, unsurprisingly, in response to changing circumstances and what appears to be an even greater looming catastrophe should the Israelis move into Gaza with a major campaign.”

The 80-year-old Biden has changed in response to a brutal reelection campaign in 2024, threats from some potential voters to abstain due to his lack of sympathy for the Palestinian cause, and a cautionary tale from former President Barack Obama on the possible consequences of Israel’s actions.

Israeli officials and those who support them in the United States have privately expressed fear to Reuters that the world’s attention would shift more and more toward the death toll and devastation caused by the Israeli attack in Gaza as more time goes by since Hamas’s crimes on October 7.

According to a U.S. source, Biden’s aides are pushing their Israeli colleagues to deliberate more thoroughly on their withdrawal plan before launching a full-scale ground assault.

The source also stated that U.S. officials have warned against developing specifics of such a plan “on the fly,” as was frequently the case for the country in the early phases of the Iraq War.

A separate source familiar with the conversations said that U.S. military advisers stationed in the area are advising their Israeli counterparts to exercise caution because any invading force will encounter challenging terrain, a maze of tunnels, and booby-trapped buildings that could increase casualties among Israeli soldiers and Gaza civilians.

Rare remarks on a current dilemma in global affairs The Democratic predecessor and previous boss of Biden, Obama, issued a warning this week, stating that Israel’s decision to shut off food and water to Gaza might “harden Palestinian attitudes for generations.”

When asked if the administration worked with Biden’s Democratic predecessor, the White House remained silent.

ALABA LEADERS IMPACT
Biden gave Israel his wholehearted support as Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, claiming he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people.” Complete halt.”

He did not mention the Palestinian people. Before leaving for the Middle East on October 11, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to reporters and stated that his main goal for the trip was to demonstrate strong support for Israel by giving it all the military hardware required to protect itself.

Blinken declared, “The United States has Israel’s back.” He made no mention of humanitarian relief.

During Blinken’s six-day visit, Israeli airstrikes caused a sharp increase in the number of deaths in Gaza, and worries about food and water intensified. Every Arab authority Blinken encountered in the area urged him to solve the rapidly worsening situation in Gaza as soon as possible.

Some addressed the U.S. president personally, while Blinken conveyed the concerns of Arab leaders.

The violent protests against Israel that followed the explosion at a Palestinian hospital last week, which Israel and the United States both blamed on Palestinian terrorists, particularly alarmed U.S. officials.

According to U.S. officials, the protests served as a warning about the potential for escalation during any land attack since they demonstrated how Israel’s enemies would try to exploit misinformation to incite unrest.

HUMAN-ORIGINATED PAUSE
This week has seen the fastest change in U.S. policy, with backing for an end to Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza to allow supplies to enter and civilians to flee.

Speaking to reporters on October 23, White House security spokesperson John Kirby stated that the U.S. wants to ensure that “Israel has the tools it needs to defend itself and to go after Hamas and that humanitarian assistance keeps flowing.” Kirby was asked about calls from around the world for a humanitarian halt.

A day later, Blinken and Kirby made a formal case for one. The change happened in response to pleas for assistance from U.N. organizations and Antonio Guterres’s call for the protection of civilians.

The United States changed the focus of its own U.N. resolution from Israel’s right to self-defense to a demand for all measures, including humanitarian pauses, to ensure unimpeded humanitarian assistance access.

Biden’s remarks on Wednesday represent a change in approach and contrast with those from October 7. At a news conference, Biden stated, “Israel has to do everything in its power, as difficult as it is, to protect innocent civilians.”

In a rare move, he also criticized Israel’s “extremist settlers” in the West Bank, calling them out of control and advocating for a “concentrated effort” to find a solution that would allow Israel and a future Palestinian state to coexist peacefully after the crisis is resolved.

Biden, however, also voiced doubts about Palestinian calculations of the death toll and reiterated his unwavering support for Israel. At the news conference, Netanyahu declared that they had “no confidence” in the figures the Palestinians were providing on the death toll in Gaza.