Biden says Netanyahu ‘hurting Israel more than helping Israel’

A ship bound for Gaza to deliver parts needed to construct a floating pier to deliver aid by sea has left Virginia and is headed for the eastern Mediterranean, U.S. Central Command said on X.

The command said that U.S. Army logistics support vessel General Frank S. Besson departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia earlier today, days after Biden announced the new plan during his State of the Union address on Thursday.

The construction of the pier could take up to 60 days and will involve 1,000 U.S. troops, according to the Pentagon. It is not clear who will distribute arriving aid among Gaza’s population.

Conditions in northern Gaza are “tragic,” the U.N.’s agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Sunday, as it called for enhanced humanitarian aid to be allowed to the north.

The agency said that “aid via land is denied” despited “repeated” calls for access and added that the death toll continues to rise.

International institutions such as the WHO have warned that conditions of famine have already reached swaths of northern Gaza, which was the first focus of Israel’s offensive and has remained largely cut off from regular aid deliveries.

The IDF detected approximately 35 launches from Lebanon toward its territory today, it said in a press release, adding that it “intercepted” a “number” of them. Air raids sounded across the north, it continued, although it did not say where the rockets that were not intercepted landed and if there were any injuries. Dozens of Israeli communities in the northern border area remain evacuated.

Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Ayra ash Shab, Maroun El Ras and Khirbet Selm in southern Lebanon, it added.

The IDF statements follow claims from Hezbollah that it achieved “direct hits” on Israeli soldiers yesterday in separate launches toward Al-Karantina Heights,  Jabal Nather and Malikiya yesterday afternoon. The IDF did not acknowledge any deaths, but said that soldiers targeted “the source of the launches.”

NBC News was not able to independently verify these reports.

The scale of mass death in the Gaza Strip is “contrary to what Israel stands for” President Joe Biden told MSNBC’s  Jonathan Capehart in an interview Saturday.

“I want to see a cease-fire, and I want to see a major, major exchange of prisoners for a six-week period,” he said. “And we should build off that cease-fire.”

He added that there should be “nothing happening” in Gaza during Ramadan, which starts within a couple of days and lasts until early April. Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled several times in recent weeks over what both sides see as unrealistic demands.

Responding to questions over whether a cease-fire deal was still possible in time for Ramadan, Biden said that CIA Director William Burns remained in the region “talking about it,” adding that he would “never give up” on the prospect of securing a cease-fire in time for the holy month.

CIA Director William Burns met with Mossad’s director, David Barnea, on Friday to discuss a potential hostage deal and temporary cease-fire agreement, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.

In a series of posts on X, the prime minister’s office said that efforts were ongoing to “narrow the gaps and advance agreements” in hostage talks and blamed continued stalling on Hamas, saying the group was attempting to “ignite the region during Ramadan.”

While the prime minister’s office did not specify where Barnea and Burns met, Israeli news site Walla reported that the meeting took place in “a country in the region.”

Mossad is Israel’s primary state intelligence agency, responsible for counterterrorism and covert operations.

President Joe Biden denied that the views of an increasing number of Democratic voters who have said they will not vote for him in the next election over his administration’s role in supporting Israel’s war in Gaza, including by arming its military, were “widely shared” by the majority of voters.

“What they said is that they’re very upset, and I don’t blame them for being upset,” Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart. “People are dying, and they want something done about it,” he said, adding that it was “understandable” that they felt that way.

In Michigan, a state with a large number of Muslim voters and citizens of Arab descent, more than 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary instead of choosing Biden.

In Minnesota’s primary on…