Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid was headed to Washington on Saturday for talks with top officials, his party said, as tensions between the two governments grow over Israel’s handling of the Gaza war.
Lapid is expected to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and other officials, his centrist Yesh Atid party said on X.
US President Joe Biden has stood by Israel through six months of devastating fighting but the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli air strike earlier this week appears to have brought him the closest yet to a breaking point.
In a tense 30-minute telephone call with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden told the Israeli premier that the strike was “unacceptable” and called for an “immediate ceasefire”.
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Humanitarian aid workers delivering food killed in Gaza in ‘unintentional’ air strike
Humanitarian aid workers delivering food killed in Gaza in ‘unintentional’ air strike
The two men discussed “the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers,” the White House said afterwards.
It added that Biden “made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action”.
Even before the killing of the aid workers, Washington had voiced concern over Netanyahu’s plans for a ground offensive in the far-southern city of Rafah, which is crammed with 1.5 million civilians, many of them displaced from other parts of Gaza.
During his visit, Lapid will also meet Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who last month called for a snap election in Israel to give voters a chance to get rid of Netanyahu, whom he described as one of the “major obstacles” to peace.
US Senate leader pushes for Israel elections, calls Netanyahu an obstacle to peace
US Senate leader pushes for Israel elections, calls Netanyahu an obstacle to peace
The Israeli premier dubbed Schumer’s comments “totally inappropriate”, insisting: “We’re not a banana republic.”
A month ago, Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin received the minister in the Israeli war cabinet, Benny Gantz.
The war cabinet was created a few days after the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7, and Gantz joined it as an opposition politician. Lapid had declined the invitation to join the war Cabinet at the time.
More than 32,500 Palestinians are said to have been killed in Israeli attacks so far and many more thousands injured.
Additional reporting by dpa
