Tensions between U.S. and Israeli officials have escalated as the White House condemned recent remarks by Israel\u2019s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who criticized a proposed ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Smotrich\u2019s comments, made on the social media platform X, dismissed the ceasefire negotiations as a \u201ctrap,\u201d arguing that such a deal would allow Hamas to regroup and continue its attacks on Israelis. He suggested that ending the conflict now would only lead to further violence in the future.<\/p>\n
In response, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby strongly rebuked Smotrich\u2019s statements, calling them \u201coutrageous\u201d and \u201cabsurd.\u201d Kirby underscored that anyone familiar with President Joe Biden\u2019s unwavering support for Israel should be \u201cashamed for thinking anything different.\u201d He further stressed that Israel had already achieved nearly all of its major military objectives in Gaza, apart from the goal of securing the release of hostages.<\/p>\n
Kirby reiterated that President Biden is committed to pursuing the ceasefire agreement and would not allow \u201cextremists\u201d in Israel to derail the negotiations. Despite the rising tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office confirmed that Israel will dispatch a delegation to restart talks, which are anticipated to occur in either Cairo or Doha.<\/p>\n
The ceasefire negotiations, backed by the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt, have garnered international support. The UAE quickly endorsed the joint statement, with UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed expressing hope that the parties involved would not delay the ceasefire further.<\/p>\n
The ongoing conflict in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of approximately 39,700 Palestinians, according to local authorities. Meanwhile, Israel continues to seek the release of around 115 hostages still held by Hamas.<\/p>\n
Smotrich\u2019s comments also included criticism of the detainee exchange process, drawing a comparison between Israeli abductees and \u201cterrorists.\u201d Kirby countered this by pointing to a recent East-West prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia, emphasizing that countries that value the lives of their citizens sometimes engage in such exchanges to save innocent lives.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Israel agreed to a U.S.-proposed detainee-hostage exchange, which involved the release of about 700 Palestinians in return for 40 Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The White House remains determined to move forward with the ceasefire deal, stressing that achieving it lies with \u201cboth sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the region braces for potential Iranian retaliation following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, tensions between Israel and the Biden administration persist. Despite setting \u201cred lines\u201d and temporarily halting some arms shipments, the U.S. has continued to provide Israel with significant military aid throughout the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The White House strongly rebuked Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for his remarks opposing a Gaza ceasefire agreement, describing them as \u201coutrageous\u201d and \u201cabsurd.\u201d Strains between the U.S.. and Israel rise as discussions on ceasefire negotiations continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":411,"featured_media":30514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[8478,13582,17469,13715,17468,13010,17467],"class_list":["post-30491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","tag-bezalel-smotrich","tag-gaza-ceasefire","tag-hostage-negotiations","tag-middle-east-conflict","tag-tensions-in-gaza","tag-us-israel-relations","tag-white-house-response"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/411"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}