Tension is increasing between Israel and America over the number of deaths in Gaza.

Almost daily phone calls stopped months ago. Now the tension between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s war against Hamas has come to the fore as the two leaders are feuding publicly.

Late last week, the US announced its troops would build a ferry to deliver aid to civilians in Gaza, which is facing food shortages and relief groups warning of famine amid the Israeli offensive. Biden demanded the Israeli leader “pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost,” warning that “he is hurting Israel more than he is helping Israel.”

Netanyahu returned fire the next day. “He’s wrong on both counts,” he said in an interview with Politico parent Axel Springer.

The public’s public embrace of Israel was a dramatic departure from Biden’s public embrace of Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, the deadliest attack in the country’s history. The US President worked closely with Netanyahu to provide broad military and diplomatic support. But with the death toll at more than 30,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and Israel planning an attack on Rafah, the enclave’s last major city where residents have taken refuge, Israeli leaders and their most important allies There is tension between the citizens regarding the situation. It has become impossible to hide the death toll.

Biden was caught on a hot mic Thursday telling a lawmaker that he planned a “come to Jesus” meeting with Netanyahu. It came just days after his administration hosted Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet but Netanyahu’s main political rival, for top-level meetings in Washington.

The Israeli leader smelled betrayal. “To the extent that Hamas believes that there is daylight among us, it will not help,” Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday. Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union.

For now, the Biden administration is continuing the flow of arms and other aid to Israel, even as it takes steps to deliver direct humanitarian aid.

Biden, 81, and Netanyahu, 74, have been at odds for decades. But this time, the tension is even more real. The US argues that Israel is not doing enough to limit the death and suffering of millions of ordinary Palestinians who have no connection to Hamas and its violent policies. In northern Gaza, US officials said, citing a statement from the World Heath Organization, a dozen children have died of hunger while their parents eat grass and use animal feed for flour.

Pressure is growing on Biden to do more to rein in his ally, both from other capitals and from key supporters at home, where moderates and younger voters are demanding an end to support for Israel.

John Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “You have two people who are extremely skilled and extremely sensitive politicians who, instead of trying to help each other, are trying to suppress each other. Trying to.” In Washington.

U.S. officials said the death of about 100 Gazans seeking aid in a convoy in late February marked a turning point. That incident involved some firing by Israeli soldiers, but Israel says most were crushed by stampedes. It rejects the idea that it is careless towards citizens.

People close to Netanyahu argue that US policy now aims to alienate the prime minister from his voters in the hopes of causing a political crisis in Israel, which would lead to a more moderate government without Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners.

This became clear when Biden sanctioned extremist Jewish West Bankers, a key component of Netanyahu’s partners.

In a report to Congress on Monday, the US intelligence community questioned “Netanyahu’s viability as a leader.” It predicted “massive protests demanding his resignation and new elections” and said this could lead to a more moderate government.

“It is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism,” he said, underscoring US intelligence agencies’ concerns about the scale of the devastation in the Palestinian territory.

For his part, Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, made sure to argue in his Sunday interview that he is not taking his country anywhere it doesn’t want to go. A recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 75% of Jewish Israelis are in favor of expanding military operations in Rafah.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said Monday that Biden’s decades-long relationship with the Israeli leader allows the US president “to be direct and honest at a time where it’s needed. But here’s the strength of the two leaders’ relationship.” There has been no change.”

Netanyahu says Israel will eventually attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 8,000 Hamas fighters, its leaders and the remaining 134 Israeli hostages are believed to be held.

Biden does not want Israel to escalate out of fear that too many civilians will be killed.

White House spokeswoman Dalton said, “Our view is that there should be no military operation in Rafah if there is no credible and implementable plan to address the safety and security needs of the more than one million civilians sheltering there. ” , said on Monday. “And we have not seen any such plan.”

Israeli forces are preparing to infiltrate into Rafah. More than one million people have taken refuge in southern Gaza City

But when Gantz, a popular opposition politician, met with officials in Washington last week, his message was clear: The attack on Rafah must ultimately go ahead.

Tensions extend beyond the current fighting. The Biden administration believes it is time to start planning for the day after the war, which means a regional alliance involving Saudi and Emirati assistance for a Palestinian state to run Gaza and the West Bank. Arrangement

This is anathema to Netanyahu who says that if Palestinian statehood is the result of the October 7 massacre, then he rewards terror. He and his allies say Palestinians must learn the opposite – that violence will only lead to harsh retribution.

They also say something else: The more Biden tries to drive a wedge between the Israeli public and their prime minister, the more he will strengthen Netanyahu because voters don’t appreciate that kind of interference.