Israel's Netanyahu in Washington for high-stakes visit as death toll in Gaza war nears 40,000
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived Monday for a scheduled visit to Washington, one day after President Biden announced he would not be running for a second term and amid Israel's ongoing war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ahead of his departure, Netanyahu said Israel would remain a key ally of the U.S. in the Middle East no matter who becomes the next president.
"In this time of war and uncertainty, it's important that Israel's enemies know that America and Israel stand together today, tomorrow, and always," Netanyahu said in a statement.
The Israeli leader is due to address both houses of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, as well as speaking privately with Mr. Biden in a meeting tentatively scheduled for mid- to late week, depending on the president's recovery from a COVID-19 infection that was announced by the White House on Wednesday. He's also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris during his visit.
"This will be an opportunity to thank him for the things he did for Israel in the war and during his long and distinguished career in public service, as Senator, as Vice President, and as President," Netanyahu said of Mr. Biden. "It will also be an opportunity to discuss with him how to advance in the critical months ahead the goals that are important for both our countries: Achieving the release of all our hostages, defeating Hamas, confronting the terror axis of Iran and its proxies, and ensuring that all Israel citizens return safely to their homes in the north and in the south."
Netanyahu met soon after arriving in Washington with family members of some of the roughly 80 hostages still believed to be alive and captive in Gaza.
"We are determined to bring them all back," the Israeli leader said. "The conditions to bring them back are undoubtedly ripening, for the simple reason that we are putting very, very strong pressure on Hamas and we are seeing a certain change, and I think this change will grow and we intend to do it, this is a war goal."
Netanyahu's visit comes after months of growing tension with Washington over how Israel has conducted its offensive in Gaza in the wake of Hamas' unprecedented Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
His invitation to address a joint meeting of Congress was organized by the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives, who accuse Mr. Biden of not showing enough support for Israel amid its war with Hamas. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel during Hamas' attack, and some 240 others were taken hostage.
But Israel's response, a full-scale military operation in the densely-packed Gaza strip, has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory. Protests in support of the Palestinian people, and against the Israeli leader's policies, are expected in Washington on the day of Netanyahu's address to Congress.
His visit comes on the heels of an opinion issued Friday by the International Court of Justice in The Hague that found Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to be illegal. It also comes as the Israeli military, having ordered Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate from parts of an area that had been designated a humanitarian zone, mounts new military operations in the south of Gaza.
The Israeli military said intense bombardment around the city of Khan Younis was based on "precise intelligence indicating that Hamas has embedded terrorist infrastructure in the area defined as the Humanitarian Area."
The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health says more than 80 people have been killed in the operations around Khan Younis between Monday and Wednesday, including women and children, and scores more wounded.
Netanyahu has faced growing pressure to make a deal to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a halt in the fighting, from Washington and from regular protests in Israel. The lack of a clearly stated plan for the administration of Gaza after the war, in particular, has drawn a rising chorus of criticism from both current and former Israeli national security officials.
"Part of the goal [of the trip] is to try to show that with all that's been said, with all the protests, Netanyahu is still the leader, still has support, he still has strong relations with America," Yonatan Freeman, an international relations specialist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the Reuters news agency.
Opponents have accused him of prolonging the war for personal political gain as he fights domestic corruption charges. Netanyahu has always dismissed the allegations against him as politically motivated.
On Tuesday, 15 former Israeli military, police, intelligence, business and public sector officials penned a joint letter to U.S. congressional leaders on Tuesday warning that Netanyahu's Washington "visit prioritizes his personal political survivability over our shared interests."
"Netanyahu has lost the support of the Israeli people and is trying to shore up his domestic coalition through a show of force in the United States," the letter, a copy of which was shared with CBS News, states. "Congress will be hosting a leader without a mandate and one who is facing prosecution for major crimes."