Biden urges Netanyahu to ‘minimize harm to civilians’ in Lebanon

The Guardian  /  October 9, 2024

The White House has released a readout of Joe Biden’s call with Benjamin Netanyahu in which the US president emphasized “the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut”.

In a statement, the White House said:

The president affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security. He condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st. On Lebanon, the president emphasized the need for a diplomatic arrangement to safely return both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line. The president affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut.

On Gaza, the leaders discussed the urgent need to renew diplomacy to release the hostages held by Hamas. The president also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the imperative to restore access to the north, including by reinvigorating the corridor from Jordan immediately.

In the last few weeks, Israel’s deadly bombardment across Lebanon has killed at least 1,200 civilians while forcibly displacing 1.2 million residents. Across the country, thousands of Syrian refugees, in addition to Lebanese residents, have fled into Syria in recent days in attempts to escape Israeli airstrikes.

The Biden administration has previously also asked Israel to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza where Israeli forces have killed more than 43,000 Palestinians while displacing nearly 2 million survivors. The Biden administration has also spent a record $17.9bn in military aid to Israel since last October.