In a speech in which he angrily pushed back on criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war that has cleaved the Democratic Party and disrupted American college campuses, Mr. Netanyahu linked Israel’s security directly to that of the United States, insisting: “We’re not only protecting ourselves; we’re protecting you.”

“Our enemies are your enemies; our fight is your fight; and our victory will be your victory,” Mr. Netanyahu said, emphasizing the strategic role of Israel in countering Iran.

The fact of Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was almost as notable as anything he said. In the face of increasing international censure and dissent both in Israel and in the United States, Mr. Netanyahu was seeking to use Congress to lift his sagging political fortunes — and leaders in both parties obliged with a bipartisan invitation to receive him.

But in the House chamber as he spoke, there was clear evidence of how the longstanding bipartisan consensus to back Israel has eroded in Congress since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 and the offensive in Gaza that followed. Dozens of Democratic members, including two top senators and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, boycotted the speech. Vice President Kamala Harris declined to preside, as is traditional for the vice president, citing a scheduling conflict.

And Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan and the first Palestinian American member of Congress, held up a sign as Mr. Netanyahu spoke that read “war criminal” on one side and “guilty of genocide” on the other.

Outside, more than 5,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators massed on streets near the Capitol, some wearing Palestinian kaffiyehs, chanting for the United States to stop arming Israel. As they hoisted signs calling Mr. Netanyahu a “war criminal” and the “prime minister of genocide,” some clashed with police who used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and a few burned an effigy of him.

Inside the House chamber, the standing ovations Mr. Netanyahu received were mostly partisan, as Republicans applauded loudly and Democrats hung back, some clapping and others sitting silently and stone-faced. The speech appeared to be aimed at an Israeli audience to demonstrate that his leadership is critical for the state’s well-being and its future.

The bipartisan split in support for him is deeply concerning for Israel’s future, experts said.

“The one adhesive that has maintained the resilience of the relationship is bipartisanship,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator and adviser in Republican and Democratic administrations. “That is under extreme stress.”

He added: “If you have a Republican view and two or three Democratic views about what it means to be pro-Israel, the nature of the relationship is going to change.”

Mr. Netanyahu appeared aware of those politics in trying to strike a bipartisan tone.

He emphasized that Israel is a strategic asset and deserves America’s support, in a speech in which he praised both President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump. He did not mention Ms. Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, whom he is set to meet later this week.

“He came to Israel to be with us in our darkest hour,” Mr. Netanyahu said of Mr. Biden, thanking him for being a self-proclaimed “proud Irish American Zionist.”

In a roughly hourlong address, Mr. Netanyahu graphically described what happened on Oct. 7, when 3,000 Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel. “They burned babies alive,” he said.

And he placed the war in context with the struggles of Jews throughout history, including the Holocaust. “After Oct. 7, ‘Never Again’ is now,” he said, emphasizing the historical right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

In a nod to the deep political divisions the war has sown in the United States, Mr. Netanyahu condemned Americans who have protested his tactics — including large swaths of the Democratic Party — equating criticism of his conduct of the war with sympathy for terrorists.

“Many choose to stand with evil, they stand with Hamas, they stand with rapists and murderers,” Mr. Netanyahu said of pro-Palestinian protesters. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”

He received raucous cheers for calling the protesters outside “Tehran’s useful idiots.”

“For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now, outside this building,” he added.

Above all, Mr. Netanyahu sought to claim the moral high ground as he spoke to lawmakers, thanking them for their support against Hamas.

“Give us the tools faster and we’ll finish the job faster,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

He wore a yellow ribbon in honor of the hostages, even though experts in the region said he was more responsible than anyone else in the country for blocking a deal that would bring them home, because of his own political calculations. He singled out Israeli soldiers seated in the chamber for their heroism, including one who immigrated from Ethiopia and one from Israel’s Bedouin community.

“These are the soldiers of Israel — undaunted, unbowed, unafraid,” he said.

Mr. Netanyahu’s visit was fraught for Democrats, some of whom wanted to show support for the state of Israel while at the same time criticizing its current leader. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, did not shake hands with Mr. Netanyahu when he entered the chamber.

“Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago,” Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said in a statement ahead of the speech. Still, he sat in the chamber, and rose to applaud Mr. Netanyahu throughout his speech.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel advocacy group, immediately criticized the speech for what it failed to do. “The speech was devoid of an actual plan for ending the war and bringing real security and peace to the region,” he said in a statement. “His empty calls for ‘total victory’ are simply an illusion as there is no military solution to the underlying conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”

A few Republicans also did not attend.

Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Mr. Trump’s running mate, was on the campaign trail. Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, said that he would not attend the speech, denouncing the event as “political theater.” In a social media post, Mr. Massie said “the purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in Israel.”

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RIVERSIDE, CA — Students at UC Riverside established an encampment in the middle of campus to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza, joining nearly a dozen universities across California and numerous nationwide to demand the school end “all investments and endowments” benefiting the Jewish state.

“We are joining the student movement, the student Intifada,” according to an unnamed spokeswoman for Students for Justice in Palestine, UCR chapter. “We are not leaving this encampment day and night until the university complies and meets with us to discuss our demands.”

The encampment was set up Monday, with several dozen tents placed on the green adjacent to the campus Bell Tower, recognized as the center of UCR.

Campus administrators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The specific number of students participating in the peaceful campus demonstration could not be confirmed. On Wednesday, a group of students staged a midday walkout from classes and held a rally at the tower, chanting “Israel is a racist state!” and “Free, free, free Palestine!”

There was no obvious law enforcement presence, and no campus buildings appeared to be obstructed.

The “demands” issued by the SJP UCR chapter included “a full transparent disclosure of all investments and endowments in weapons manufactures and the Israeli genocidal machine,” as well as a “full divestment from weapons manufacturers and any corporations that either fund or profit off the genocidal machine.”

The SJP-UCR representative noted there is no “standing university in Gaza” due to the unabated bombing campaign since early October conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces using U.S.-supplied drones and fighter-bombers.

The chapter spokeswoman alleged American “universities are complicit in the genocide,” and the protests at UCR and other campuses are intended to “condemn war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Messages taped to the large UCR sign underneath the Bell Tower included “Stop the U.S.-funded Genocide” “End the Occupation Now” and “Ceasefire Now!”

Estimates on the number of campuses where anti-war movements have surfaced over the last month vary, but according to the nonprofit National Students for Justice in Palestine, “solidarity encampments” numbered just over 70 as of May 1.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the International Committee of Red Cross-affiliated Palestine Red Crescent Society, nearly 35,000 people have been killed in Gaza — over 14,500 of them children — since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas incursion into Israel, culminating in the IDF’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The number of injuries is in excess of 77,000, according to published reports.

Israel’s official casualty rate for the duration of hostilities is 8,730, of which just over 1,000 have been fatalities.

Along with universities, hospitals, refugee camps and residential complexes in Gaza have been targeted, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, according to reports from the region.

Human Rights Watch has alleged Israel “is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip,” and according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the humanitarian crisis caused by the bombardments on the Strip’s infrastructure has resulted in almost 500,000 “displaced persons” requiring shelter and other assistance.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday that of the 97 reporters killed in hostilities since early October, 92 have been Palestinian. Others have been assaulted, injured and arrested.

The CPJ said the current “war … has led to the deadliest period for journalists since we began gathering data in 1992.”

Aid workers have also been killed. The United Nations has estimated the number at 220, including seven World Central Kitchen volunteers whose vehicle took a direct hit on April 1 during an IDF drone strike on a convoy.

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Ismail Haniyeh ’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.”

The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated cease-fire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far apart on key issues.

The slayings also come as Israel is under intensifying pressure — increasingly from its top ally, the U.S. — to change tack in the war, especially when it comes to humanitarian aid for desperate people in Gaza.

Haniyeh said Hamas would not cave to the pressure leveled by the strike on his family.

“The enemy believes that by targeting the families of the leaders, it will push them to give up the demands of our people,” Haniyeh told the Al Jazeera satellite channel. “Anyone who believes that targeting my sons will push Hamas to change its position is delusional.”

Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV station aired footage of Haniyeh receiving the news of the deaths through the phone of an aide while visiting wounded Palestinians who have been transported to a hospital in Qatar, where he lives in exile. Haniyeh nodded, looked down at the ground and slowly walked out of the room.

Hamas said Hazem, Amir and Mohammed Haniyeh were killed in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, where Ismail Haniyeh is originally from. The militant group said three of Haniyeh’s granddaughters and a grandson were also killed, without disclosing their ages.

Al-Aqsa TV said the brothers were traveling with family members in a single vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone.

The Israeli military said Mohammed and Hazem were Hamas military operatives and that Amir was a cell commander. It said they had conducted militant activity in the central Gaza Strip, without elaborating. It did not comment about the grandchildren killed.

The strike on Haniyeh’s family is the latest bloodshed in a war with no end in sight.

Earlier, Israeli War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz claimed Hamas has been defeated militarily, although he also said Israel will fight it for years to come.

“From a military point of view, Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding” and its capabilities “crippled,” Gantz said in a statement to the media in the southern Israeli city of Sderot.

But he added: “Fighting against Hamas will take time. Boys who are now in middle school will still fight in the Gaza Strip.”

Gantz reiterated the Israeli government’s commitment to go into Rafah, the city at the far southern tip of the Gaza Strip where more than half the territory’s 2.3 million people are now sheltering.

For Palestinians, the strike on Haniyeh’s family darkened an already grim Eid al-Fitr holiday, which ends the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Palestinians marked the holiday by visiting the graves of loved ones killed in the war. In the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City, people sat quietly by graves surrounded by buildings destroyed in Israel’s offensive, which was launched in response to the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

As misery in Gaza lingers, Israel has faced increasing pressure, including from its own top ally, the U.S., to change tack in the war, especially with regards to the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In an interview with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision that was recorded April 3 and aired Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and urged his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid. He repeated that call again Wednesday, saying the efforts to boost aid were “not enough” and demanding another entry point for trucks in northern Gaza.

Gantz said Israel would soon open a new crossing to serve hard-hit northern Gaza, an early target of Israel’s in the war.

After months of supporting the war against Hamas, the White House has ramped up pressure on Israel to reach a cease-fire and taken a sterner line that has rattled the countries’ decades-old alliance and deepened Israel’s international isolation over the war.

The most serious disagreement has been over Israel’s plans for an offensive in Rafah. The rift was worsened by an Israeli airstrike last week on an aid convoy that killed seven workers with the World Central Kitchen charity, most of them foreigners. Israel said the deaths were unintentional, but Biden was outraged.

Biden’s latest comments highlight the differences between Israel and the U.S. over humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, where the war has led to warnings of imminent famine for more than a million people.

“What he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden told Univision when asked if Netanyahu was prioritizing his political survival over Israel’s interest.

Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza in the early days of the war, but under U.S. pressure has slowly increased the number of trucks allowed to enter the territory.

Still, aid groups say supplies are not reaching desperate people quickly enough, blaming Israeli restrictions and noting that thousands of trucks are waiting to enter Gaza. Countries have attempted less efficient ways to deliver aid, including airdrops and by sea.

Israel says it has opened up more entry points for trucks to enter, especially for northern Gaza. Israel also accuses aid groups of being too slow to deliver aid once it’s inside Gaza.

Aid groups say logistical issues and the precarious security situation — underscored by the strike on the aid workers — complicate deliveries.

Netanyahu has vowed to achieve “total victory,” pledging to destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attacks and to return hostages captured by Hamas and others that day. He says that victory must include an offensive in Rafah.

Israel launched the war in response to Hamas’ cross-border assault in which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

More than 33,400 Palestinians have been killed in the relentless fighting, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel says it has killed some 12,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has ignited a humanitarian catastrophe. Most of the territory’s population has been displaced and with vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape leveled in the fighting, many areas are uninhabitable.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Friday sought to downplay sharp criticism levied against Israel by President Joe Biden and a senior national security official over how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has conducted Israel’s four-month-old war aimed at rooting out Hamas militants from Gaza.

Biden, speaking to reporters Thursday evening, called Israel’s military operations in Gaza “over the top” and said the suffering of innocent people has “got to stop.” While Biden has previously expressed concern about the mounting Palestinian civilian toll — more than 27,000 have been killed in Gaza since the conflict erupted — his direct criticism of the Israelis has been muted.

Then on Friday, the New York Times reported it had obtained a recording in which the president’s deputy principal national security adviser, Jon Finer, expressed a “lack of confidence” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government during a meeting with Arab American and Muslim community leaders this week. The White House National Security Council confirmed that Finer’s comments, as reported by the Times, were accurate.

An administration official told The Associated Press that Finer was speaking specifically about the Netanyahu government’s commitment to pursuing a two-state solution — one in which Israel would co-exist with an independent Palestinian state — once the war ends. Netanyahu throughout his political career has consistently opposed the creation of a Palestinian state.

“The President and Mr. Finer were reflecting on concerns we have had for some time and will continue to have as the Israeli operation proceeds, about the loss of Palestinian lives in this conflict and the need to reduce civilian harm,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “The President has made clear since the first days of this conflict that we share the aim of defeating Hamas, but that Israel must reduce, as much as possible, the impact of its operation on innocent civilians.”

Finer in the recording also spoke of “missteps” by the Biden administration and expressed regret that the administration may have left a “a very damaging impression” early in the war with its “wholly inadequate public accounting for how much the president, the administration and the country values the lives of Palestinians.”

The comments appear to reflect a growing frustration in the White House with the conflict that was sparked on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 others hostage. Earlier pauses in fighting led to release of mostly women and children taken by Hamas, but U.S. officials believe more than 100 remain in captivity.

Biden on Thursday said he hasn’t given up on a U.S.-Egypt-Qatar effort to get the two sides to agree to an extended pause in fighting to facilitate the release of the remaining hostages.

Hamas, however, has demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and end the war as part of a hostage deal. Netanyahu has refused to agree to those terms.

Biden said he still is hopeful that a deal can be worked out that might create a path to ending the war.

“I am pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage cease-fire,” Biden said. “I’ve been working tirelessly on this deal.”

Biden had dispatched Finer and other senior aides to Michigan on Thursday to meet with Arab American and Muslim community leaders as his administration has been looking to mend rifts with a key constituency in a 2024 battleground state.

Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Steven Benjamin, who directs the Office of Public Engagement, and Tom Perez, who leads the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, were among administration officials who took part in the Michigan visit.

Some of Biden’s campaign team have faced a tough reception from Michigan’s sizable Arab American and Muslim community.

Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, and other campaign aides went to suburban Detroit late last month, but found a number of community leaders unwilling to meet with them.

Other community activists have gone even further as they press their disapproval of the president’s handling of the war and have formed a group called “Abandon Biden,” a movement discouraging voters from supporting the president in November.

Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation and over 310,000 residents are of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Nearly half of Dearborn’s roughly 110,000 residents claim Arab ancestry.

After Donald Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016, Wayne County and its large Muslim communities helped Biden retake the state for the Democrats in 2020 by a roughly 154,000-vote margin. Biden enjoyed a roughly 3-to-1 advantage in Dearborn and 5-1 advantage in Hamtramck, and he won Wayne County by more than 330,000 votes.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism.

The State Department said Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had told Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a $147.5 million sale for equipment, including fuses, charges and primers, that is needed to make the 155 mm shells that Israel has already purchased function.

“Given the urgency of Israel’s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer,” the department said.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to ensure Israel is able to defend itself against the threats it faces,” it said.

The emergency determination means the purchase will bypass the congressional review requirement for foreign military sales. Such determinations are rare, but not unprecedented, when administrations see an urgent need for weapons to be delivered without waiting for lawmakers’ approval.

Blinken made a similar decision on Dec. 9, to approve the sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million.

Both moves have come as President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs remains stalled in Congress, caught up in a debate over U.S. immigration policy and border security. Some Democratic lawmakers have spoken of making the proposed $14.3 billion in American assistance to its Mideast ally contingent on concrete steps by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza during the war with Hamas.

The State Department sought to counter potential criticism of the sale on human rights grounds by saying it was in constant touch with Israel to emphasize the importance of minimizing civilian casualties, which have soared since Israel began its response to the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.

“We continue to strongly emphasize to the government of Israel that they must not only comply with international humanitarian law, but also take every feasible step to prevent harm to civilians,” it said.

“Hamas hides behind civilians and has embedded itself among the civilian population, but that does not lessen Israel’s responsibility and strategic imperative to distinguish between civilians and Hamas terrorists as it conducts its military operations,” the department said. “This type of campaign can only be won by protecting civilians.”

Bypassing Congress with emergency determinations for arms sales is an unusual step that has in the past met resistance from lawmakers, who normally have a period of time to weigh in on proposed weapons transfers and, in some cases, block them.

In May 2019, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an emergency determination for an $8.1 billion sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan after it became clear that the Trump administration would have trouble overcoming lawmakers’ concerns about the Saudi and UAE-led war in Yemen.

Pompeo came under heavy criticism for the move, which some believed may have violated the law because many of the weapons involved had yet to be built and could not be delivered urgently. But he was cleared of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation.

At least four administrations have used the authority since 1979. President George H.W. Bush’s administration used it during the Gulf War to get arms quickly to Saudi Arabia.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has told Israel that it must work to avoid “significant further displacement” of Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza if it renews its ground campaign aimed at eradicating the Hamas militant group, senior U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Separately, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Israelis have been receptive when U.S. officials have raised the issue.

The Democratic administration, seeking to avoid more large-scale civilian casualties or mass displacement like that seen before the current temporary pause in the fighting, underscored to the Israelis that they must operate with far greater precision in southern Gaza than they did in the north, said officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

Amid mounting international and domestic pressure about the rising Palestinian death toll, the White House has begun to put greater pressure on Israel that the manner of the coming campaign must be “carefully thought through,” according to one of the officials.

Kirby, told reporters separately, “Now you have an added population of hundreds of thousands more in the south that you didn’t have before (the Israelis) moved into Gaza City.”

“And so it’s even all that more of an added burden on Israel to make sure that as they start to plan for operations in the south, whatever that looks like, that they have properly accounted for…the extra innocent life that is now in south Gaza.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that Israeli Defense Forces will eventually restart military operations after the conclusion of the current, temporary cease-fire that has allowed for an exchange of hostages taken by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The two sides agreed Monday to extend the truce for an additional two days and to continue swapping hostages for prisoners.

President Joe Biden has said he would like to see the pause — which has also allowed a surge of much-needed humanitarian aid to get into Gaza — continue as long as feasible. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return this week to the Middle East as the U.S. hopes to find a way to extend the cease-fire and get more hostages released, the State Department said Monday. It will be his third trip to the region since Israel’s war with Hamas began last month.

Meanwhile, CIA Director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, as well as Egyptian officials met in Qatar on Tuesday for talks on the same matter, according to a diplomatic official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Negotiations are turning to the dozens of Israeli men and Israeli security force members held captive in hopes of keeping the cease-fire and hostage-for-prisoner swap going, said Steven Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Those released since Friday’s truce started have been mainly women and children. Brokering swaps for Israeli forces are expected to be much more difficult for U.S. and Arab negotiators, Cook said. Hamas in the past has demanded Israel release large numbers of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention in exchange for each Israeli soldier.

“The price may be too high for the Israelis,” Cook said.

The Americans spotlighted their concerns about civilians in Gaza as the latest swap of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel was completed Tuesday. Israel said Tuesday that 10 Israelis and two foreigners freed by Hamas exited Gaza to Egypt. Thirty Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel.

Only one American, 4-year-old Abigail Edan, has been released by Hamas since start of the truce on Friday. Kirby said that the White House remained hopeful that some of the nine Americans still believed to be in captivity in Gaza would be released in the coming days.

“No Americans unfortunately got out today, but we’re hopeful.,” Kirby said. “You know, tomorrow’s another day.”

Biden and top officials have also been clear-eyed about Israel’s desire to continue operations focused on Hamas that over the last seven weeks have largely focused on the north. They have said they support Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas’ control over Gaza and the threat it poses to Israeli civilians, but have grown more vocal about the need to protect the lives of Palestinian civilians. Hamas has been known to seek shelter among the territory’s civilian population, and Israeli officials have released videos from northern Gaza of what they said are weapons stockpiles and firing locations placed among civilian infrastructure.

More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. More than 1,200 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in the initial attack. At least 77 soldiers have been killed in Israel’s ground offensive.

The U.S. believes roughly 2 million Palestinians are now in south and central Gaza. Biden administration officials have made clear to the Israelis that an already stretched humanitarian support network would be unable to cope with the sort of displacement that those from northern Gaza have endured in Israel’s retaliatory strikes and ground operations.

Biden administration officials have also told the Israelis they expect them to conduct operations in a way that will be “maximally deconflicted” with the operation of humanitarian aid facilities, United Nations-supported shelters and core infrastructure, including electricity and water.

The World Health Organization has warned that the war has caused a burgeoning public health crisis that is a recipe for epidemics as displaced Palestinians have been forced to take shelter in cramped homes and camps.

One administration official said vaccines are among the medical goods flowing into Gaza, but there has also been a focus on potable water supplies and sanitation to prevent outbreaks of typhoid and cholera. To that end, the White House has also pushed to get as much fuel into Gaza as possible — something the Israelis resisted, particularly in the first weeks of war, citing concerns that it would be siphoned by Hamas.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said a U.S. military aircraft, a C-17 cargo plane, landed on Tuesday in Egypt with aid for Gaza, including medical supplies, food and clothing. The 54,000 pound shipment is the first of three U.S. military humanitarian aid flights to northern Egypt for Gaza’s civilian population planned for the coming days. The aid is to be delivered into Gaza by the United Nations.

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Anyone holding the idea that Israel needs to accept a two-state solution to survive has not thought through the problem. Or perhaps they have indeed thought through the problem and have decided that a two-state solution is a step along the way to dissolving Israel as a state of the Jews, which is just fine for them but not for the Jews.

What would be the result to Israel if it were reduced to its ‘67 borders? At that time, the narrowest distance from its eastern border to the Mediterranean Sea was less than 10 miles…actually, closer to 9 miles. Before the ‘67 Six-Day War, to get from Jerusalem to Beit Shan near the Sea of Galilee required leaving Jerusalem, going west towards Tel Aviv, traveling up the Coast Road to Haifa, turning East to Tiberias, and then south to Beit Shan, a trip of 4-5 hours. The military risk to the country was being cut in two at that choke point.

When the question arose as to why the town of Dimona was chosen as the site of Israel’s nuclear facility, Israel offered the following explanation: Though Dimona is only a few miles east of the Egyptian border and a few miles west of the Jordanian border, it is the point in Israel that was furthest from any border. The hills of Judea and Samaria run north-south along the top of the Jordan Hills, with the Jordan River at the bottom of the Rift Valley to the east.

The hills naturally sit above the lowlands to the west. Before the ’67 War, most of Israel’s population sat below those hills to the west, as is still the case today. There is one hill east of Ben Gurion airport that can see the takeoff and landing of every aircraft, making them easy targets. Giving that hill to the Arabs would be similar to a cow raising its neck to the slaughterer so he can make a better cut. These points address the topography of pre-’67 Israel and its effect upon the lives of the Jews. No one who wishes a secure future for Israel should think of returning to those suicidal borders.

There’s also the sociological aspect of integrating Arabs and Jews. Anyone seeking a two-state solution is suggesting that perennial conflict is their goal. Jews and Arabs need to be substantially separated geographically. The Jordan River seems logical, with those Arabs remaining in Judea and Samaria becoming citizens of Jordan. They would not be stateless and they’d be unable to interfere with the development of a majority Jewish state. A Jewish state is the only way to prevent repeated occurrences of October 7’s slaughter. While Jews are somewhat indifferent towards Arabs, Arabs have hated Jews since Mohammad walked the earth.

The problem is that, while Jews can live side-by-side with Arabs, being indifferent or befriending them on an individual level, traditional Arabs will merely hate Jews when the Jews are strong but will attempt to slaughter them when the Jews are relatively weak. This brutality is supported by Mohammad’s behavior. If Mohammad slaughtered Jews 1300 years ago, today’s Arabs consider it laudable behavior and will try to do the same. And, of course, Mohammad slaughtered Jews to the last man at Khaybar (except for those who agreed to pay the Jizya tax or converted to Islam).

He waited until he had gained enough strength to beat them and then acted despite the interim peace. One must also consider Iran, the key villain in this mess. Let me urge you to explore the following two links that may be eye-opening for those on the fringes of this conflict: 1) There is no question that, for ideological reasons, there are those in the United States government who are strengthening Iran to the detriment of Israel. 2) These same people are strengthening Hizb’Allah in Lebanon at the expense of Israel as well.

These links imply that Israel is considered expendable except to the Jews themselves and others with a conscience and a memory. Therefore, Israel must resist physical compression and cultural suppression. To this, I must add that the continued existence of Israel as a state of the Jews is imperative for the entire world. The flourishing of Israel prevents world dominance by globalists who wish uniform entropy and powerlessness among all populations.

This goal of uniformity is so lacking in sense that, if permitted to do so in the future, people will write entire scholarly volumes about its stupidity. Israel is a bulwark against globalism and enforced uniformity. That’s because it’s a fine example of a nation that is both tied to the past through Judaism and is responsive to changing socio-economic conditions that require flexibility. It has not needed the presumptions of globalism, Marxism, or even capitalism to succeed. At every choice point, it tinkers without fear and restrictions until it finds solutions that work. Israel’s independence and success explain much of the antipathy directed at the state of the Jews.

I call this antipathy ‘anti-Semitism.’ This week, in every synagogue in Israel and around the world, we read the section called Noah, which tells how God decides to destroy all living creatures except for Noah and his family. Men had become so corrupt they no longer merited continued existence. The Hebrew word for corruption is ‘Hamas.’ Yes, Hamas was and is the pinnacle of corruption. Apparently, things are no different today than they were in pre-flood history.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring that U.S. leadership “holds the world together,” President Joe Biden told Americans on Thursday night the country must deepen its support of Ukraine and Israel in the middle of two vastly different, unpredictable and bloody wars.

Acknowledging that “these conflicts can seem far away,” Biden insisted in a rare Oval Office address that they remain “vital for America’s national security” as he prepared to ask Congress for billions of dollars in military assistance for both countries.

“History has taught us when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” Biden said. “They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America and the world keep rising.”

Biden’s speech reflected an expansive view of U.S. obligations overseas at a time when he faces political resistance at home to additional funding. He’s expected to ask for $105 billion on Friday, including $60 billion for Ukraine, much of which would replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles provided earlier.

There’s also $14 billion for Israel, $10 billion for unspecified humanitarian efforts, $14 billion for managing the U.S.-Mexico border and fighting fentanyl trafficking and $7 billion for the Indo-Pacific region, which includes Taiwan. The proposal was described by three people familiar with the details who insisted on anonymity before the official announcement.

“It’s a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden said.

He hopes that combining all of these issues into one piece of legislation will create the necessary coalition for congressional approval. His speech came the day after his high-stakes trip to Israel, where he showed solidarity with the country after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and pushed for more humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.

With Israel continuing to bombard the Gaza Strip and preparing a ground invasion, Biden placed an increased emphasis on the deadly toll that the conflict has had on civilians there, saying he’s “heartbroken by the tragic loss of Palestinian life.”

“Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity and peace,” Biden said. He also warned about a rising tide of antisemitism and Islamophobia in the U.S., noting the killing of Wadea Alfayoumi, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy.

“To all you hurting, I want you to know I see you. You belong,” Biden said. “And I want to say this to you. You’re all Americans.”

The White House said that after his speech, the president and first lady Jill Biden spoke over the phone with Wadea’s father and uncle to express their “deepest condolences” and share their prayers for the recovery of the boy’s mother, who was also stabbed.

Biden included in his remarks a warning to Iran’s leaders, who have supported Hamas in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and said the U.S. “will continue to hold them accountable.”

As Biden seeks a second term in a campaign that will likely hinge on voters’ feeling about the economy, he was careful to emphasize that the spending will create jobs for U.S. workers, referencing the construction of missiles in Arizona and artillery shells in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.

And he worked in a nod to one of his political heroes, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by saying that “just as in World War II,” the country is “building the arsenal of democracy and serving the cause of freedom.”

Biden faces an array of steep challenges as he tries to secure the money. The House remains in chaos because the Republican majority has been unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted more than two weeks ago.

In addition, conservative Republicans oppose money for sending more weapons to Ukraine as its battle against the Russian invasion approaches the two-year mark. Biden’s previous request for funding, which included $24 billion to help with the next few months of fighting, was stripped out of budget legislation last month despite a personal plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

There will be resistance from some on the other side of the political spectrum when it comes to military assistance for Israel, which has been bombarding the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

Critics have accused Israel of indiscriminately killing civilians and committing war crimes by cutting off essential supplies including food, water and fuel.

Bipartisan support for Israel has already eroded in recent years as progressive Democrats have become more outspoken in their opposition to the country’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory, which is widely viewed as illegal by the international community.

There are rumbles of disagreement within Biden’s administration as well. Josh Paul, a State Department official who oversaw the congressional liaison office dealing with foreign arms sales, resigned over U.S. policy on weapons transfers to Israel.

“I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be short-sighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse,” he wrote in a statement posted to his LinkedIn account.

A speech from the Oval Office is one of the most prestigious platforms that a president can command, an opportunity to try to seize the country’s attention at a moment of crisis. The major television networks broke into regular programming to carry the address live.

Biden has delivered only one other such speech during his presidency, after Congress passed bipartisan budget legislation to avert a default on the country’s debt.

The White House and other senior administration officials, including Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, have quietly briefed key lawmakers in recent days about the contours of the planned supplemental funding request.

The Democratic Senate plans to move quickly on Biden’s proposal, hoping that it creates pressure on the Republican-controlled House to resolve its leadership drama and return to legislating.

However, there are disagreements within the Senate, too, on how to move forward. Eight Republicans, led by Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, said they did not want to combine assistance for Ukraine and Israel in the same legislation.

“These are two separate and unrelated conflicts and it would be wrong to leverage support of aid to Israel in an attempt to get additional aid for Ukraine across the finish line,” they wrote in a letter.

North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer said he was fine with the proposal as long as there was also a fresh effort to address border issues. But he said “it’s got to be designed to secure the border, not to facilitate travel through the border.”

Although there was a lull in migrant arrivals to the U.S. after the start of new asylum restrictions in May, illegal crossings topped a daily average of more than 8,000 last month.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who leads a Senate panel that oversees funding for the Department of Homeland Security, was wary of any effort to overhaul border policy during a debate over spending.

“How are we going to settle our differences over immigration in the next two weeks?” Murphy said. “This is a supplemental funding bill. The minute you start loading it up with policies, that sounds like a plan to fail.”

Biden’s decision to include funding for the Indo-Pacific in his proposal is a nod toward the potential for another international conflict. China wants to reunify the self-governing island of Taiwan with its mainland, a goal that could be carried out through force.

Although wars in Europe and the Middle East have been the most immediate concerns for U.S. foreign policy, Biden views Asia as the key arena in the struggle for global influence.

The administration’s national security strategy, released last year, describes China as “America’s most consequential geopolitical challenge.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Within hours of the horrific Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the region to be ready to provide Israel with whatever it needed to respond. On Tuesday, more ships and forces were heading toward Israel, and other troops in the U.S. were preparing to deploy if called on.

One U.S. aircraft carrier and its strike group is already in the eastern Mediterranean and a second one has left the U.S. and is heading that way. In addition, three Marine warships with are moving into the region. Scores of aircraft were dispatched to U.S. military bases around the Middle East, and American special operations forces are working with Israel’s military in planning and intelligence.

And, as of Tuesday, five shipments of U.S. weapons and equipment had arrived in Israel.

The buildup reflects growing U.S. concern that the deadly fighting between Hamas and Israel will escalate into wider regional conflict. So the key mission for American ships and warplanes is to establish a large and visible presence that will deter Hezbollah, Iran or others from taking advantage of the situation.

A look at what weapons and assistance the U.S. military is providing:

NAVY SHIPS AND PLANES

One of the most visible examples of the U.S. response is in the waters surrounding Israel — an array of massive warships are in or moving toward the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group was ordered to go to the Eastern Mediterranean within hours after the attack, and on Tuesday the Pentagon said the ship’s six-month deployment in the region has been extended and gave no end date. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in recent days ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to join the Ford in the Eastern Mediterranean, and those ships are now heading across the Atlantic Ocean.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said it was sending the USS Bataan amphibious ready group, which consists of three ships carrying thousands of Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, into the region. A U.S. official said the USS Mesa Verde, an amphibious transport dock, is in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, and the USS Carter Hall, a dock landing ship, were in the Gulf region and are now heading toward the Red Sea. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details on ship locations.

The ships carry helicopters and assault craft that can insert Marines into hostile territory or provide medical care or other assistance.

The warships, particularly the aircraft carriers with their fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, have historically proven to be an effective deterrent against Iranian and other militant activity in the Middle East. The carriers serve as command-and=control centers and can conduct information warfare. They carry F-18 fighter jets that can fly deterrence missions or strike targets. And they also have E2-Hawkeye surveillance planes that can provide early warning on missile launches and detect enemy movements.

WEAPONS AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES

Aircraft loaded with U.S. weapons have already begun arriving in Israel. Austin watched as crew were unloading one C-17 transport plane on Friday at Nevatim air base east of Gaza. On Tuesday, the Pentagon said that five such deliveries have already been made and more are expected.

U.S. defense officials say the administration has already given Israel small diameter bombs, other munition and interceptor missiles for its Iron Dome air defense system, and more will come. The U.S. is also getting U.S. defense companies to expedite weapons orders by Israel that were already on the books, including munitions for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.

The Iron Dome munitions the U.S. provides to Israel will likely be in addition to ones Israel had already ordered and will be part of ongoing military assistance packages. The packages will also include JDAM kits — essentially a tail fin and navigation kit that turns a “dumb” bomb into a “smart” bomb that can be guided to a target,.

In addition, the U.S. has set up a small cell of special operations forces that has been working with Israel, providing intelligence and planning, as well as advice to the Israeli Defense Forces on hostage recovery efforts. The Pentagon has said those troops are not participating in any hostage rescues and that there are no other U.S. military forces on the ground in Israel.

AIR FORCE WARPLANES

The Pentagon has also ordered additional warplanes to bolster A-10, F-15 and F-16 squadrons at bases throughout the Middle East. More will be added if needed.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said last week at an Atlantic Council event that the service was ordering units that were about to come home to remain in place along with their replacements.

The U.S. Air Force already has significant airpower in the region to conduct manned and unmanned operations, most notably in Syria where an Air Force F-16 last week was ordered to shoot down a Turkish drone that was posing a threat to U.S. ground forces.

AND MORE TROOPS ARE GETTING READY

Austin ordered about 2,000 U.S. forces to be prepared to deploy if needed in the coming days and weeks. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Tuesday that the units have not yet been identified. She said the troops would be able to respond quickly, particularly to provide intelligence and surveillance, transportation, medical assistance and other aircraft needs.

The 2,000 troops are likely to include additional Air Force and Army personnel.

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden will travel to Israel and on to Jordan Wednesday to meet with both Israeli and Arab leadership, as concerns increase that the raging Israel-Hamas war could expand into a larger regional conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden’s travel to Israel as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip grows more dire and as Israel prepares for a possible ground attack on the 141-square-mile (365-square-kilometer) territory to root out Hamas militants responsible for what U.S. and Israeli officials say was the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust.

Biden is looking to send the strongest message yet that the U.S. is behind Israel. His Democratic administration has pledged military support, sending U.S. carriers and aid to the region. Officials have said they would ask Congress for upward of $2 billion in additional aid for both Israel and Ukraine, which is fighting Russia’s invasion.

It’s a chance for Biden to burnish his national security credentials to U.S. voters with the 2024 election just over a year away. It’s also an opportunity to demonstrate that he’s making good on his campaign promise of exercising American leadership after four years of former President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.

But Biden’s presence could be seen as a provocative move by Hamas’ chief sponsor, Iran, or potentially viewed as tone-deaf by Arab nations as civilian casualties mount in Gaza. Blinken has already been traveling around the Mideast this past week trying to prevent the war with Hamas from igniting a broader regional conflict.

Blinken made the announcement early Tuesday after more than seven hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials.

“He is coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region and for the world,” Blinken said.

Shortly after in Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that Biden would also go to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“We’ve been crystal clear about the need for humanitarian aid to be able to continue to flow into Gaza,” Kirby said. “That has been a consistent call by President Biden and certainly by this entire administration.”

Truckloads of aid idled Monday at Egypt’s border with Gaza, barred from entry, as residents and humanitarian groups pleaded for water, food and fuel for dying generators, saying the tiny Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel after last week’s rampage by Hamas was near total collapse.

Biden had been scheduled to travel to Pueblo, Colorado, on Monday but decided to postpone the visit so he could consult with his aides and speak with fellow leaders about the unfolding situation in the Middle East.

The announcements came after Biden consulted with a trio of world leaders and his own national security team on Monday amid growing global concern about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip and fears that the Israel-Hamas war could metastasize into a broader regional conflict.

Biden spoke by phone with Egypt’s el-Sissi, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the fallout from Hamas militants’ surprise attacks on Israel that left 1,400 dead and retaliatory strikes that have killed at least 2,778 Palestinians.

European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit on Tuesday as concern mounts that the war between Israel and Hamas could fuel tensions in Europe and bring more refugees in search of sanctuary.

Biden’s call with the Egyptian leader came one day after el-Sissi met with Blinken in Cairo. Egypt’s state-run media said el-Sissi told Blinken that Israel’s Gaza operation has exceeded “the right of self-defense” and turned into “a collective punishment.”

Kirby declined to comment on el-Sissi’s concerns about how Israel is conducting the war.

“The humanitarian situation was high on the list of the discussion with President el-Sissi,” Kirby said.

Iran’s foreign minister warned Monday that “preemptive action is possible” if Israel moves closer to its looming ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Iran is a chief financial sponsor of Hamas militants in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The comments by Hossein Amirabdollahian follow a pattern of escalating rhetoric from Iran.

“Leaders of the resistance will not allow the Zionist regime to do whatever it wants in Gaza and then go after other resistance groups after it’s done with Gaza,” he told state television. “Therefore any preemptive action is possible in the coming hours.”

Kirby said the U.S. has not seen any signs that Iran might try to get directly involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

White House officials have said that U.S. intelligence shows that Iran has been broadly aware that Hamas had been preparing for a possible strike against Israel. But the U.S. says it has yet to uncover evidence of direct Iranian involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.

Israel is also preparing for the potential of a new front opening on its northern border with Lebanon, where it has exchanged fire repeatedly with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group. The military ordered residents of 28 Israeli communities near the border to evacuate.

Air raid sirens interrupted Blinken’s meetings with Israeli officials on three different occasions Monday, including twice as he huddled with Netanyahu and his war cabinet.

In Washington, Biden was briefed in the Oval Office by their national security team on the situation on the ground in Israel and Gaza. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients joined the briefing led by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns, according to the White House.

Blinken was in Israel on Monday for his second visit in less than a week for talks with Israeli leaders. He has been crisscrossing the Middle East with stops in Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Blinken, in talks Monday with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, carried back some of the feedback he received from Arab leaders. He also “underlined his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas’ terrorism and reaffirmed U.S. determination to provide the Israeli government with what it needs to protect its citizens,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

White House officials said Biden’s talks with Arab leaders in Amman will largely focus on humanitarian concerns for Gaza’s 2.3 million people. He’ll also make clear that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination.

Still, White House officials bristled about whether Biden would ask Netanyahu and Israel officials to show restraint or set any conditions on any new U.S. military aid that could be in the pipeline.

“We are not putting conditions on the military assistance that we are providing to Israel,” Kirby said. “They have a right to defend themselves. They have a right to go after this terrorist threat.”

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