Biden: Waiting to see results of call with Netanyahu, aid delivery has improved but ‘it’s not enough’

US President Joe Biden says he is waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fulfill the commitments he made during their call last week to significantly expand aid into Gaza, including by opening an additional Israeli crossing into the northern Strip.

“Bibi and I had a long discussion. He agreed to do several things that related to… getting more aid — both food and medicine — into Gaza and reducing significantly the… civilian casualties in any action taken in the region,” Biden says during a White House press conference. ”

“That’s tied to the hostages,” Biden says, indicating that drops in aid and an increase in civilian casualties harm efforts to secure the release of the hostages.

The president notes that there has been an improvement over the past several days in the amount of aid that’s getting into Gaza, but insists that “it’s not enough” and that “we need more.”

“There’s one more [crossing] that has to [be opened in] the north. We’ll see what [Netanyahu] does in terms of meeting the commitments he made to me,” Biden says.

Netanyahu also pledged in that last Thursday call to open Israel’s Ashdod Port for regular maritime aid shipments but has yet to follow through on that either. The premier reportedly hasn’t even submitted the formal directives to open those two crossings amid likely pushback from several far-right ministers whose cooperation will be needed for the task.