The Biden administration showed no new signs on Friday that it was prepared to take a tougher line on Israel’s military operation against Hamas as desperate conditions in Gaza grew even worse, with civilian deaths rising and aid groups warning of shortages of water, food and medicine.
Biden officials say Israel must do more to limit civilian casualties and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. But that still leaves America’s position far from that of many Arab countries, which are demanding an immediate cease-fire and blame Israel for what they call a profoundly disproportionate response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
During a visit to Washington on Friday, ministers from Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations said at a news conference that the Israeli offensive must stop, with Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, accusing Israel of committing a “massacre.”
In New York on Friday, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates that called for a humanitarian cease-fire — a lonely position against 13 votes in favor.
While under growing pressure at home and abroad, the Biden administration has been trying to persuade Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians. But it has not publicly threatened Israel with any specific consequences if it does not. White House officials brush off talk of cutting or conditioning military aid to Israel and say they have not given Israel a firm deadline to finish its offensive in Gaza.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken indicated that the United States remained dissatisfied with civilian deaths and humanitarian conditions in Gaza about a week after new fighting broke a pause to allow for the release of hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held by Israel. Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, which left about 1,200 people dead, has claimed more than 15,000 lives, according to Gazan health authorities.
At a news conference in Washington, Mr. Blinken said that “there does remain a gap” between Israel’s stated “intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.”
During a visit to Tel Aviv last week, Mr. Blinken said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders that they must designate safe areas for civilians, avoid further displacement of Gazans and prevent damage to critical infrastructure like power stations. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Vice President Kamala Harris have also urged Israel to conduct its operations with more care.
Mr. Blinken said on Thursday that Israel has taken some positive steps, including by “evacuating neighborhoods instead of entire cities,” creating safe areas and “having a more narrowly focused area of where this military operation is actually being conducted.”
Israeli officials argue that they are in an impossible position, fighting an enemy in Hamas that embeds itself among civilians and that, they charge, seeks to maximize Palestinian deaths to make Israel appear cruel to the world. Israeli leaders say that even as they often take unusual steps to warn civilians about impending attacks, they cannot defeat a fanatical enemy in a dense urban area without great collateral damage.
But in Washington and at the United Nations, Arab diplomats expressed anger at Israel’s renewed offensive, which U.S. officials concede is again incurring casualties at a high rate and adding to Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. Those diplomats — from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority — met with Mr. Blinken at the State Department on Friday afternoon. Turkey’s foreign minister also joined the visiting group, the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee.
And on Capitol Hill, some Democrats say the United States must move beyond talk to pressure Israel. “I do think the Biden administration can be doing more to exercise our leverage under these circumstances,” Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said. “When words are not matched by strong actions, the United States looks feckless.”
“The Biden administration should call for a pause” in Israel’s military campaign, he added, “until it receives a verifiable plan of action to secure the objectives that the president has put out and that the secretary of state has described as ‘imperative.’”