State Department spokesman Vedant Patel stressed on Monday that no conclusions have been reached by the U.S. on whether Israel possibly violated international law in Gaza after a critical report on Friday. 

‘The report makes clear that this is a very complex and complicated battlefield. It is a very dense and urban setting. We are also dealing with the belligerent, in this case, Hamas, that has a clear track record and history of co-locating itself with civilians and civilian infrastructure, using civilians as human shields,’ Patel told reporters at a press conference. ‘The IDF has undertaken steps to implement international humanitarian law obligations for the protection of civilians in the current conflict.’ 

‘We also are clear in our report that it’s reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under the National Security Memorandum has been used by Israeli security forces in instances that are inconsistent with its obligations. But we also have no direct indication of Israel intentionally targeting civilians,’ he added. ‘Israel does have a number of ongoing active criminal investigations pending, and there are hundreds of other cases under administrative review. Israel has taken steps to and is taking steps to hold itself and its actions accountable.’ 

His remarks come after Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered an overdue national security memorandum to Congress on Friday that said Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law, though wartime conditions prevented American officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes. The critical report also noted Israel has had to confront an ‘extraordinary military challenge,’ as Hamas ‘has embedded itself deliberately within and underneath the civilian population to use civilians as human shields.’ 

The report states Hamas ‘intentionally uses schools, hospitals, residential buildings, and international organization facilities for military purposes’ and ‘constructed a vast tunnel network beneath this civilian infrastructure not to protect civilians, but to hide its leaders and fighters and from which it stages and launches attacks.’ Hamas also continues to hold more than 100 hostages in Gaza. 

‘Given the nature of Hamas’s track record of co-locating itself with civilians using civilians as human shields, we’re unable to make a conclusive determination as it relates to violations of international humanitarian law,’ Patel said on Monday. ‘There is a moral and strategic imperative to take every possible step to minimize civilian casualties, steps that we know that the IDF has the tools and the capability to undertake.… But simultaneously that this is also a belligerent that is using civilians as human shields. And therefore, we’ve not been able to come to any kind of conclusive conclusion on this.’ 

‘We didn’t issue this memorandum because we thought any country was necessarily violating these standards,’ he added. ‘Instead, we wanted to be transparent about the standards that we require countries to adhere to and offer an assessment of a certain time period that the national security memorandum is consistent with.’

Blinken on Sunday delivered some of the Biden administration’s strongest public criticism yet of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, saying Israeli tactics have meant ‘a horrible loss of life of innocent civilians’ but failed to neutralize Hamas leaders and fighters and could drive a lasting insurgency. In a pair of TV interviews, Blinken underscored that the United States believes Israeli forces should ‘get out of Gaza,’ but also is waiting to see credible plans from Israel for security and governance in the territory after the war. 

Hamas has reemerged in parts of Gaza, Blinken said, and ‘heavy action’ by Israeli forces in the southern city of Rafah risks leaving America’s closest Mideast ally ‘holding the bag on an enduring insurgency.’

He said the United States has worked with Arab countries and others for weeks on developing ‘credible plans for security, for governance, for rebuilding” in Gaza, but ‘we haven’t seen that come from Israel…. We need to see that, too.’ Blinken also said that as Israel pushes deeper in Rafah in the south, a military operation may ‘have some initial success’ but risks ‘terrible harm’ to the population without solving a problem ‘that both of us want to solve, which is making sure Hamas cannot again govern Gaza.’

More than a million Palestinians have crowded into Rafah in hopes of refuge as Israel’s offensive pushed across the Gaza Strip. Israel has said the city also hosts four battalions of Hamas fighters.

Israel’s handling of the war, Blinken said, has put the country ‘on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy, and probably refilled by Hamas. We’ve been talking to them about a much better way of getting an enduring result, enduring security.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democrats hold a major advantage in four of this year’s crucial battleground Senate races, but President Biden isn’t getting that same good news, according to a series of New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College polls released early Monday.

The Democratic incumbents, or likely nominees, in the Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Senate races all lead their respective GOP opponents, or hypothetical opponents, with less than six months to go until the general election in November, but the president trails former President Trump in almost every single battleground state, often by a significant margin.

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey leads his Republican challenger, Dave McCormick, 46%-41% in Pennsylvania, while, in Wisconsin, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin leads Republican Eric Hovde 49%-40%.

The races in Arizona and Nevada show a closer margin, with likely Democratic nominee Ruben Gallego leading Republican Kari Lake 45%-41%, and incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen leading Republican Sam Brown 40%-38%, respectively. The poll did not include Brown’s primary challenger, former U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Dr. Jeffrey Gunter, who is expected to pose a formidable challenge for the GOP nomination.

Trump leads Biden in a head-to-head matchup in nearly every battleground state, including Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan. However, in Wisconsin, Biden held a 47%-45% lead.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s inclusion in the polls largely boosts Trump to a bigger advantage. In Arizona, the former president garners 42% of the vote to Biden’s 33% and Kennedy’s 10%, and in Nevada, 41% support Trump, 27% Biden and 12% Kennedy.

Trump and Biden tie in Wisconsin at 38% with Kennedy at 9%, and Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania grows by four points, 40%-36%, with Kennedy at 10%.

Biden also trails Trump in Georgia, 39%-31%, with Kennedy at 9%, and in Michigan, 38%-36%, with Kennedy also at 9%.

Minority groups that have traditionally supported Democrats appear to be trending away from Biden and toward either Trump or Kennedy. Collectively, Hispanic voters in the battleground states are split at 31% between Biden and Trump, but 14% say they support Kennedy.

Biden still holds a significant advantage with Black voters in the same states with 49% support, but 14% say they are backing Trump and 11% Kennedy.

Just 36% of voters in battleground states say they approve of the job Biden is doing as president, with 60% disapproving.

Trump also edges Biden when it comes to favorability – 45% say they view the former president favorably and 53% unfavorably. Just 40% say they view Biden favorably, with 59% viewing him unfavorably.

Senate races in Montana, Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan and Maryland are also expected to be pickup opportunities for Republicans in November. Considering the Democrats’ one-seat margin in the Senate, Republicans just need to win two of the races and hold their other seats up for re-election in order to win control of the chamber.

Republicans will only need to win one of the races to control the chamber if Trump wins the White House, since his vice president would serve as the tie-breaking vote.

A Republican senator hammered President Biden on Sunday for withholding weapons from Israel, which he claimed has inadvertently ‘strengthened’ the Hamas terror group.

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-NE, said the Biden administration’s decision to withhold high payload bombs from Israel ‘just demonstrates their incompetence.’ He also compared the current conflict with Hamas to how Biden handled Afghanistan, saying he was ‘absolutely mismanaging this.’

‘I mean, the administration said they had an ironclad friendship with Israel, and now they’re demonstrating that it doesn’t mean too much,’ said Ricketts, also a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, during a segment of FOX Report with Jon Scott. ‘Secretary [Antony] Blinken was talking about how we’ve got to offer them a better way. A better way, like Afghanistan. How well did that work out? He’s looking for a credible plan for protecting civilians, that they wouldn’t know a credible plan if it came up and bit them on the behind. These people are completely incompetent and they’re absolutely mismanaging this.’

The Republican also said the president’s tactic was playing into the hands of terrorists: ‘Hamas was negotiating to come up with a cease fire to return the hostages. And then Biden announces he’s going to withhold weapons. And Hamas is like, well, my hand has just been strengthened. Why would I negotiate now?’

Ricketts’ comment came after Biden urged Israel’s government not to carry out a ground invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, which is currently home to more than a million Palestinians who fled other parts of the Gaza Strip during Israel’s war with Hamas.

On Israel’s Rafah offensive, the Nebraska Republican claimed the Jewish country was being cautious about avoiding civilian deaths.

‘There’s 4 or 5 [Hamas] battalions left in Rafah. They all have to be destroyed,’ Ricketts said. ‘The leadership needs to be killed. And frankly, Israel is doing more than any nation I can think of as far as trying to avoid civilian casualties.’

Biden’s own threats to withhold offensive aid from Israel has prompted wide criticism, including from the House Oversight Committee, which is launching an investigation to see if the president has violated the law.

— Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in a 2019 PBS interview

Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., questioned both the decision-making process and the timing of the announcement itself in a letter to President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.

He also requested a congressional briefing from the White House National Security Council in addition to communications and other documents related to discussions about pausing any kind of aid to Israel, with a deadline of May 24.

‘The Committee is alarmed by the Biden administration’s willingness to play political games with U.S. taxpayer-funded assistance going to Israel,’ Comer wrote in a letter signed by Republicans on the Oversight Committee. ‘On May 9, 2024, President Biden made public that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use in its offensive on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza.’

‘Further reporting indicates that the National Security Council actively chose to withhold this information from the public eye for days, in part so that news of the decision would not be known when President Biden delivered a speech touting support for Israel on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Committee seeks a briefing, as well as documents and information related to this decision, including any legal justification for withholding essential supplies from Israel in its fight against Hamas terrorists who still have Israeli and American hostages.’

Former President Trump and several of his supporters in Congress have accused Biden of initiating a quid pro quo with Israel — conditioning or withholding aid to Israel in order to change its foreign policy. Trump was impeached for threatening to withhold money from Ukraine, although the funding was ultimately not withheld. 

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The Republican senator from Arkansas says the Israel-Hamas war ‘would have probably already been over’ if Donald Trump were president.

Tom Cotton appeared on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ Sunday when he made the remarks. 

‘President Trump said just last night that he would absolutely provide Israel with the weapons they need to finish the job,’ Cotton said. ‘This would have never happened on President Trump. Trump’s watch. It didn’t happen on his watch. And if he were president, this war would have probably already been over with much less civilian suffering in Gaza because he would have backed Israel to the hilt from the beginning.’

Last week, the GOP senator renewed the call to impeach President Biden following reports of aid to Israel being delayed during its war with the terrorist organization Hamas.

A recently passed $95 billion supplemental foreign aid package included roughly $26 billion for both Israel and humanitarian aid for areas including Gaza. The aid was encouraged by the Biden administration, which had proposed it nearly six months prior. 

Cotton suggested that Biden should be impeached for delaying an aid shipment to Israel, which he claimed had to do with the president’s re-election bid as he balances a divided Democratic Party on the Israel war. 

Last month, Cotton called on the Biden administration to deport any foreign student engaging in disruptive demonstrations on college campuses. 

Fox News’ Julia Johnson, Kristine Parks, Liz Friden and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said should the Biden administration follow through on its threat to stall U.S. military aid for Israel, the White House would be ‘rewarding the tactics of Hamas to put civilians at risk.’ 

During an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Graham said ‘it’s impossible to mitigate civilian deaths in Gaza as long as Hamas uses their own population as human shields.’ 

‘I’ve never seen in the history of warfare such blatant efforts by an enemy, Hamas, to put civilians at risk. And the last thing you want to do is reward this behavior. They put weapons in mosques. They fire artillery rounds from apartment buildings. They put command centers under hospitals to maximize civilian casualties as Israel tries to destroy the terrorist group,’ Graham told host Kristen Welker. 

‘Americans should be all in and helping Israel against an existential threat. The one thing Israel and America has in common,’ Graham continued ‘Hamas would attack us if they could. Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism that shouts ‘Death to America, ’and Hezbollah is in the same camp. I’ve never heard anybody in Israel chant ‘Death to America.’ The people Israel is fighting are bent on destroying all of the Jews. This is Holocaust Remembrance Month, for God’s sake. We should unequivocally support Israel. Yes. Work with them to limit civilian casualties. They want to do that. I know they do. They have a whole battalion dedicated to that. But this idea of worth holding weapons to Israel is rewarding the tactics of Hamas to put civilians at risk.’ 

In a message to the Biden administration, Graham said ‘sit down with Israel, keep the weapons flowing and work out a plan, if you can.’ 

‘I talked with Israel this morning. They are discussing with the Biden administration a way forward. I am somewhat hopeful we can jump over this impasse, but do not let Bernie Sanders run this war. Bernie Sanders and the Squad are insane when it comes to how to defend Israel, he just said on national television – cut off every nickel of military aid to the Jewish state who’s being threatened with oblivion. Shut these people down. This decision was political. He’s trying to appease the radical left, Biden is.’ 

Earlier on the same program, Sanders had argued ‘Israel should not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid,’ pointing to a recent State Department report suggesting Israel could be violating internation law in the way it’s conducting its war against Hamas since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel. 

Graham also attempted to make a comparison to the United States’ actions to end World War II in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan to justify the Israel Defense Forces’ actions against Hamas. 

‘Here’s what I would say about fighting an enemy who wants to kill you and your family. Why do we drop two bombs, nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? To end a war that we couldn’t afford to lose. You don’t understand. Apparently, what Israel is facing. They’re facing three groups. Iran, who has received $80 billion in aid. When Trump left office, they were exporting 300 barrels of oil a day. Now they’re 1.3 million a day. They’ve been enriched by Biden. They’re taking that money to kill all the Jews,’ Graham said. ‘Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war. They can’t afford to lose and work with them to minimize casualties.’ 

The Biden administration has been in tense talks with Israel in a bid to avoid a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the last city in Gaza to be spared the Israeli military’s offensive campaign.

The U.S. has offered Israel sensitive intelligence and supplies if the country agrees to scale back a planned invasion of Rafah, according to a report from the Washington Post.

The intelligence the U.S. is offering would allow Israel to better pinpoint Hamas leaders hidden in tunnels around the city, making it possible for the Israeli military to engage in a more precise campaign that could avoid the devastation seen in other areas of Gaza throughout the conflict.

The U.S. is also offering to provide thousands of shelters that would allow Israel to build tent cities, the report notes, and help create the delivery systems for food, medicine and water that would be needed to give the thousands of refugees that would flee the city more livable conditions.

The report comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to invade Rafah with ‘extreme force,’ a situation the U.S. would like to see avoided as President Biden balances support for the longtime U.S. ally with domestic pressure to draw a red line regarding Israel’s current conduct in the conflict.

Rafah is the last city in Gaza that has not faced the devastation of the war, with Israel arguing an invasion is needed to finish off the last pockets of resistance from Hamas. But destroying the city’s complex system of tunnels would likely put thousands of civilians in danger, causing the U.S. to push for Israel to implement an evacuation plan of the city before launching its campaign.

‘We have serious concerns about how Israel has prosecuted this campaign, and that could all come to a head in Rafah,’ a senior administration official told the Washington Post.

The U.S. has also been working behind the scenes with Egypt to find and cut off tunnels between Gaza and the neighboring country, which Hamas has used to replenish its supplies, administration officials told the Washington Post.

A Biden administration assessment of the situation found that Hamas is likely to welcome an extended and bloody conflict in Rafah, the reports notes, which the terrorist organization hopes would only further isolate the Jewish state from an international community that has grown increasingly inpatient with Israeli tactics in the war.

While it remains unclear if Israel has heeded the U.S. warnings in the lead-up to a potential invasion, the report notes that private discussions between officials have resulted in assurances from Israel that its forces would not launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah before evacuating roughly 800,000 civilians from the city. On Sunday, the U.N. said that roughly 300,00 people had evacuated Rafah in the previous week.

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a U.S. official stressed that the U.S. was not holding back information on the locations of Hamas leaders, noting that the U.S. has been helping Israel target the locations of Hamas leaders. 

Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance summed up the ongoing NY v. Trump trial as a Democratic effort to distract that ‘the world is on fire’ under the Biden administration. 

‘This is about the fact that President Joe Biden has a failed record as commander in chief and leader of this country, and the Democrats can’t talk about that. So what they’re doing is putting these trials out there and saying, ‘Focus on this, not on the fact that the world is on fire and the fact that you’ve gotten poor under the presidency of Joe Biden,” Vance said Sunday on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ His comments come as war continues raging in the Mideast and Ukraine, and anti-Israel agitators stage protests on college campuses nationwide. 

Donald Trump’s trial will hold its 16th day in court on Monday, when the 45th president’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, is anticipated to take the stand. 

The case revolves around the alleged falsification of business records. Prosecutors say Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to quiet her claims of the alleged extramarital sexual encounter with Trump. Prosecutors allege the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses, and are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case. 

Daniels took the stand last week, where she detailed that she met Trump in 2006 at Lake Tahoe during a celebrity golf tournament. She alleged that the pair had sex in Trump’s hotel room during the event, which Trump has repeatedly denied in public comments. Daniels’ testimony also included describing to the court how she got into the pornography business after working as an exotic dancer as a teenager.

Legal experts have sounded off that Daniels’ testimony was irrelevant to the case and that it should not have been admitted into the record. The Trump legal team twice motioned for a mistrial, but were denied by presiding Judge Juan Merchan. 

Vance reiterated on CNN that Trump is not on trial for sexual indiscretions, despite the focus on the salacious details stemming from Daniels’ testimony. 

‘Donald Trump is not on trial for sexual indiscretions. This is a sham trial, where they’re saying his misdeed is that he violated the law. That he committed a crime. You can’t throw somebody in prison in the middle of a presidential election because you think that he did something bad 10 years ago. So I think we have to separate these arguments from the actual criminal trial that’s attempting to – in my view, Dana – interfere in a presidential election,’ he told host Dana Bash. 

Vance, who had previously criticized Trump after the infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ video was unearthed ahead of the 2016 election, said Trump should not be treated differently amid the trial because he’s a former president. He did argue that Trump ‘is being treated differently.’

‘The only thing that Alvin Bragg, the New York prosecutors’ team, thinks Donald Trump did wrong is that he ran for president in 2024, and he looks to be on the cusp of victory,’ he said. ‘That is the only thing that this is ultimately about. If you look at the underlying argument of the case, they can’t even identify what it is that Donald Trump did. They said he committed a paperwork violation in the service of a crime, but they won’t even specify the crime that he allegedly committed. And I think that when you look at all of these attacks on Donald Trump, you have to be honest with yourself and say, ‘This is not about law. And this is not about justice.’’  

Meanwhile, Trump has spoken to the media and continued posting on Truth Social amid the trial, where he has addressed a bevy of issues, including ongoing anti-Israel protests on college campuses, and slammed the trial as a ‘scam’ promoted by the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 election. 

​​’This Witch Hunt is FALSE ANCIENT HISTORY that was fully adjudicated by the Voters in the 2016 Presidential Election. It only has to do with Election Interference, and trying to help Crooked Joe Biden get elected because he can’t do it by himself. It is a vicious attack by the Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, in strict coordination with the D.O.J. and the White House, on Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. IT IS ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND STRICTLY THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!’ he wrote on Truth Social last week. 

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, said Israel shouldn’t receive ‘another nickel’ in U.S. military aid despite the findings of a recent State Department report. 

‘Any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law, it has broken American law, and in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid,’ Sanders said in an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’ ‘Look the facts are quite clear. Hamas is a terrible disgusting terrorist organization that began this war. Though what Israel has done over the last seven months has not just gone to war against Hamas, it has gone to war against the entire Palestinian people. And results have been absolutely catastrophic.’

His remarks come in response to the U.S. State Department on Friday criticizing Israel’s use of U.S-supplied arms in a way that may be ‘inconsistent’ in ‘mitigating civilian harm’ in the war in Gaza. 

The finding of ‘reasonable’ evidence to conclude that the U.S. ally had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas was the strongest statement that the Biden administration has yet made on the matter. The report, which was sent to Congress on Friday and obtained by Fox News Digital, admitted that ‘Israel has had to confront an extraordinary military challenge: Hamas has embedded itself deliberately within and underneath the civilian population to use civilians as human shields.’

The report added that ‘it is often difficult to determine facts on the ground in an active war zone of this nature and the presence of legitimate military targets across Gaza.’

Citing figures from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government, Sanders said approximately 35,000 Palestinians are dead, while another 77,000 are wounded – two thirds of whom are women and children. 

‘That is not the way you conduct a war in a civilized society to the degree that war is civilized,’ he continued. ‘We’re talking about 60% of the housing in Gaza having been destroyed. The civilian infrastructure – that is water, that is sewage now running out into the streets. No electricity. You are talking about a systematic destruction of the healthcare system there. Every university in Gaza has been bombed, and right now, most frighteningly, according to the humanitarian organizations, we are looking at the likelihood of hundreds of thousands of children facing starvation. 

Sanderds said that ‘any country that blocks U.S. humanitarian aid is in violation of law and should not continue to receive military aid from the United States.’ 

‘Meet the Press’ host Kristen Welker noted how 26 House Democrats recently sent a letter to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday, expressing that they are ‘ deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel, during a critical moment in the negotiations.’ 

‘Does withholding weapons to Israel run the risk of prolonging this war and weakening Israel’s hand against Hamas?’ Welker asked Sanders. 

‘Every Republican, as I understand it, wants to give huge amounts of money to Israel. My guess is many Republicans want Israel to go into Rafah despite the incredible humanitarian destruction that will cause. And there are Democrats who also feel that way,’ Sanders said. ‘That is not what the American people feel. Poll after poll suggests that the American people want an immediate ceasefire. They want massive humanitarian aid to get in. People of our country do not want to be complicit in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children.’ 

‘In terms of the international community, we are increasingly isolated in terms of our support for Israel, who is becoming a pariah nation,’ he added. 

‘Is there a nonmilitary way to get rid of Hamas? Given the threat that they pose? Given that they say their very goal is to destroy Israel’s existence?’ Welker pushed back. 

 ‘You’re right… that is exactly right. That is their goal. It is difficult,’ Sanders said. ‘I don’t want to minimize this, so the goal is to defeat Hamas, but not to destroy or cause the enormous amount of destruction that we’re now seeing in Gaza. And I hope that the future for the Palestinian people is a new generation or Palestinian leaders who focus on allowing the people to have a state of their own.’ 

Fox News’ Brie Stimson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

The legacy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be at a crossroads, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Sunday, as Israel looks to launch a direct assault on the Hamas stronghold of Rafah.

Coons appeared on ABC’s ‘This Week’ and said he hopes Netanyahu is thinking about his legacy after President Biden threatened to withhold offensive aid from Israel should the Jewish state go forward with a ground invasion on Rafah, where millions of Palestinian civilians are sheltering from the war. 

‘Right now, his legacy is the huge strategic and defensive failure of Oct. 7,’ Coons said of Netanyahu. ‘And his legacy could be a real gap, a break in the long, strong bipartisan strategic relationship between the United States and Israel.’

Coons continued that this outcome ‘would be tragic,’ and highlighted a different path for Netanyahu.

‘[Netanyahu’s] legacy could instead be achieving regional security and peace for Israel,’ the senator said.

Netanyahu has vowed to follow through with the eradication of Hamas – even if it loses Israel its allies.

‘I have told our American friends: If necessary, we will fight with our fingernails,’ Netanyahu said Sunday, addressing those who will carry torches on Israel’s 76th Independence Day. ‘We have much more than fingernails.’

Coons said that while the U.S. will continue to provide defensive systems to Israel, the U.S. will be watching Netanyahu’s next steps.

‘I think we’ll be looking closely at the path forward that Prime Minister Netanyahu chooses in the days ahead, whether he will use American supplied munitions to bomb and invade and attack Rafah, and the million civilians who are there in order to get at the Hamas fighters who are buried in tunnels deep beneath Rafah,’ Coons said. ‘Or whether he will move ahead with allowing those civilians to be relocated in accordance with a plan developed with the United States.’

Coons said the latter plan isn’t ‘fully acceptable’ to the U.S. yet, or his preferred outcome, as officials work to prepare a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that will allow a cease-fire, hostage release and resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and long-term security for Israel against Iran.