The Media Line: Netanyahu Claims Biden Era ‘Embargo’ Cost Soldiers’ Lives, Demands Hamas Disarmament Before Gaza Reconstruction  

Netanyahu Claims Biden Era ‘Embargo’ Cost Soldiers’ Lives, Demands Hamas Disarmament Before Gaza Reconstruction  

By The Media Line Staff  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a press conference Tuesday that Israel lost soldiers in Gaza in part because an alleged US “embargo” left troops without sufficient ammunition. He also declared that under President Donald Trump’s postwar Gaza framework, Hamas must be disarmed before any reconstruction of the Strip begins. 

After welcoming the return of the remains of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last hostage in Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel paid “very heavy prices” in the war, beyond what is normally expected in combat. “Heroes fell” because they lacked needed munitions, he said, attributing part of the shortage to what he described as an “embargo” that ended when President Trump entered office. 

Netanyahu said soldiers were fighting in areas already struck by artillery and air power, yet terrorists remained inside booby-trapped houses, creating conditions that required close-quarters combat without adequate ammunition. He did not directly name the Biden administration but said the weapons constraints lifted with the change in US leadership. 

To prevent a repeat, Netanyahu said he intends to shift the US-Israel relationship “from aid to partnership,” with Israel increasing domestic weapons production and expanding cooperation with countries such as Germany and India. 

Amos Hochstein, a senior aide to former US president Biden, criticized the premier’s remarks and accused Netanyahu of deliberate falsehood and ingratitude. “Netanyahu is both not telling the truth and ungrateful to a president that literally saved Israel at its most vulnerable moment,” Hochstein told Axios shortly after the remarks. 

Netanyahu also outlined the next stage of Gaza policy. “Now we are focusing on completing the two remaining missions: dismantling Hamas’s weapons and demilitarizing Gaza of arms and tunnels,” he said. Further Israeli withdrawals, he added, are contingent on that disarmament. 

“As I agreed with President Trump … there are only two possibilities: either this will be done the easy way, or it will be done the hard way, but in any case, it will happen,” Netanyahu said. “I am already hearing the statements that we will allow Gaza’s reconstruction before demilitarization. That will not happen.” 

Reuters reported Tuesday that Hamas has asked for 10,000 of its police officers to remain as part of an international stabilization force. Although Israel has not responded directly to this request, Netanyahu has previously rejected any role for Hamas in governing Gaza.