While diplomatic relations between Israel and the United States are strained due to the conduct of the war in Gaza, the leader of the Israeli opposition, the centrist Yaïr Lapid, is leaving this Saturday evening for Washington where he will meet senior American leaders. He will meet in particular with the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the National Security Advisor of the White House, Jake Sullivan, indicated his party, Yesh Atid, on the social network X.
Six months after the start of the war launched in retaliation for the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, the population of Gaza is on the verge of famine, a situation that is provoking strong reactions across the world.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone interview that continued support from the United States, which provides significant military aid to Israel, would depend on measures taken to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and he called for an
“immediate ceasefire”
.
Two days earlier, Joe Biden said he was
“outraged”
by the death on Monday of seven humanitarian workers from the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza, including six foreigners, killed by an Israeli strike following a series of “serious errors,” Israel admitted on Friday.
During his visit to Washington, Yaïr Lapid will also meet the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer. The latter had approved the call on Wednesday by Benny Gantz, head of the Israeli war cabinet and main rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, for early elections, believing that it was
“the right thing to do”
.