Biden criticises Israel military campaign in Gaza as ‘over the top’

US President Joe Biden has suggested that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been “over the top” and said he is seeking a “sustained pause in the fighting” to help ailing Palestinian civilians.

“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

He added that he had been pushing for a deal to normalise Saudi Arabia-Israel relations, increased humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians and a temporary pause in fighting to allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas.

“I’m pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire,” Biden said. “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and it’s gotta stop.”

The remarks, some of Biden’s sharpest public criticism to date of the government of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, come as the Democratic president has come under increasing domestic pressure to press Israel to stop fighting.

The White House did not respond to a request to elaborate on Biden’s remarks.

In the aftermath of Israel’s initial attacks, Biden was criticised for making remarks describing the death of innocent Palestinians as “the price of waging a war.”

Israel began its military offensive after Hamas militants from Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on 7 October. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 27,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, with thousands more feared buried under rubble.

There has been one truce to date, lasting a week at the end of November.

Saudi Arabia has told the US there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem, and Israeli “aggression” on the Gaza Strip stops, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Israel’s Netanyahu has ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state.

On Thursday, Israeli forces bombed areas in the southern border city of Rafah where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering, as diplomats sought to salvage ceasefire talks after Netanyahu rejected a Hamas proposal and confirmed the Israeli military would advance on Rafah.

The strikes killed at least 13 people, including two women and five children, according to the Kuwaiti hospital, which received the bodies. At the scene of one of the strikes, residents used torches on their mobile phones as they dug through the rubble with pick-axes and their bare hands.

“I wish we could collect their whole bodies instead of just pieces,” said Mohammed Abu Habib, a neighbour who witnessed the strike.

International aid organisations have warned that any major operation in Rafah – previously designated a “safe” area by Israel – would compound what is already a humanitarian catastrophe.

“If they aren’t killed in the fighting, Palestinian children, women and men will be at risk of dying by starvation or disease.” said Bob Kitchen, of the International Rescue Committee. “There will no longer be a single ‘safe’ area for Palestinians to go to.”

Outside the hospital where bodies from the overnight strikes were brought, relatives wept as they said farewell to their loved ones. Warda Abu Warda said she felt helpless.

“Where do we go after Rafah? Do we go to sea?” she asked.

Biden said that he hoped a deal to get hostages released could lead to a temporary pause in fighting that gets extended.

He also suggested that Hamas launched the October attack to prevent a broad deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but added that “I have no proof.”

Explaining his response to the crisis, Biden appeared to mix up the details of his diplomatic efforts, calling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi the leader of Mexico.

“Initially, the president of Mexico, Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in, Biden said.

“I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi to open the gate on the Israeli side.”

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report