Presidential Preview: Israel-Hamas war

Throughout his presidency, Biden described U.S.-Israel relations as an “ironclad commitment” and “unshakable.” He was quick to ally the U.S. with Israel in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7 and has remained a strong, albeit increasingly lonely, supporter of the Israeli government’s actions.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Biden-Harris administration has twice bypassed Congress to provide “emergency” weapons sales to Israel worth $253.5 million in total. The administration also approved over 100 military sales, most of which went unreported to Congress because the amount did not meet a certain financial minimum.

A February Politico report claimed “the Biden administration is weighing selling Israel up to 50 new F-15 fighter jets, 30 AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles and a number of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which turn dumb bombs into precision-guided weapons,” though the weapons wouldn’t arrive for several years.

The administration is rumored to have sent even more aid behind the scenes, though the records are not public information. A State Department representative maintained that the Biden-Harris administration has followed standard procedures regarding aid to Israel and “regularly briefs members [of Congress] even when formal notification is not a legal requirement.”

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. had provided about $12.5 billion in aid to Israel as of May since the start of the war. The U.S. also typically sends $3.3 billion in military aid and financing to Israel every year.

However, U.S. arms deals have slowed as the Israeli Defense Forces continue their campaign into the southern border city of Rafah. Biden and Harris have faced mounting international pressure, including from members of their own party, to stop dealing aid and arms to Israel as the IDF continues to decimate Palestinian territories.

Although the Biden administration’s material support for Israel thus far is undeniable, Biden and Harris have also worked to secure cease-fires between Hamas and Israeli forces at multiple points in the conflict, albeit to limited success.

In November, Biden helped negotiate a temporary, six-day cease-fire that resulted in the release of 50 Israeli hostages, 150 Palestinian prisoners and a flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In early 2024, though, the U.S. repeatedly vetoed U.N. resolutions calling for a permanent cease-fire. Harris herself did not call for an immediate cease-fire until early March, though she was the first high-profile member of the Biden administration to do so.

Around the same time, Biden urged the Israeli government and Hamas to agree to another temporary cease-fire.

In May, Biden leveraged U.S. aid to Israel for the first time in an attempt to deter the country from invading Rafah — where more than 1 million Palestinian civilians were sheltering from the war.

Prior to the eventual May invasion, Biden warned Netanyahu not to launch such a large campaign along the southern border. In his March State of the Union address, the president said that humanitarian aid cannot be a “bargaining chip” and urged “Israeli leadership” not to leverage the influx of humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

The U.S. has sent significant amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza over the course of the war, beginning soon after Oct. 7 and continuing throughout the conflict. As of June, the Department of Defense reported over $674 million in aid had been sent to the region. The U.S. constructed a temporary pier off the Gaza coast to facilitate aid shipments, though a series of challenges led to its closure in June after only 20 days of operation.

In perhaps the most drastic shift of the Biden-Harris administration’s policy stance on the war, Biden announced a U.S.-drafted, Israeli-backed cease-fire resolution May 31. Biden said that the plan, which includes three phases, is “not just … a cease-fire that would inevitably be fragile and temporary,” but would instead be a “durable end to the war.”

The plan was introduced to the U.N. following the U.S.’s rejection of three previously proposed cease-fire resolutions.

Its first phase calls for an immediate cease-fire and the release of some hostages held by Hamas, including those who are older or wounded, women and the remains of some who died in captivity. In exchange, Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails, Israeli forces would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza and additional aid would be allowed to enter the region.

Phase two would see a permanent end to “hostilities” and the release of all remaining hostages and prisoners held on both sides. The final phase would entail a multi-year reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, as well as the return of any deceased hostage’s remains to their family.

The U.N. passed the resolution June 10 and Hamas claimed to accept the deal the next day. However, Israeli officials claimed that Hamas rejected multiple provisions of the agreement, throwing a wrench in negotiations. Although Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously said that Israel had already accepted the deal when the draft of the resolution was released, Netanyahu expressed skepticism about ending the war in a June 1 statement issued by the Israeli government.

The resolution included a statement attesting to the U.N. Security Council’s “unwavering commitment to achieving the vision of a negotiated two-state solution where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders.” The resolution also emphasized “the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority,” which has been a sticking point for Israel in negotiations thus far.

Neither Hamas nor Israel have publicly committed to the agreement.