Facing mounting pressure at home and abroad, the president bets on a hostage deal
of food drifting on parachutes onto the beach of Gaza on March 2nd made for an incongruous sight after five months of war: as Israel dropped American-made bombs on Gaza, America’s air force dropped ready meals. The aid operation, conducted jointly with Jordan and repeated on March 5th, symbolised not the power of America, but its frustration at its limited ability to influence Israel’s fight against Hamas.
Yet Mr Biden has struggled to protect ordinary Palestinians from Israel’s wrath. He feels Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition has not paid much heed to his exhortation to do its utmost to protect civilians. More than 30,000 Palestinians have died , according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. Much of Gaza’s fenced-in population of 2.2m has been forced southward, like toothpaste squeezed in a tube. TheHamas has been weakened, but not defeated.
Mr Biden’s support for Israel carries a cost for him at home. About 100,000 Democrats—mainly progressives and Arab-American voters—cast “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primary in Michigan, an important swing state. It was a rebuke to Mr Biden, who faces a tough campaign for re-election in November.
America says that Israel has broadly agreed to the terms of a deal, which are said to include a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of some 40 hostages for probably hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. “The onus right now is on Hamas,” said a White House spokesman.
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