After responding to questions about the special counsel’s report at a White House news conference Thursday night, Feb. 8,, President Joe Biden was asked about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and the fighting in Gaza. Biden said Israel’s military response in Gaza has been “over the top,” in what is being considered the president’s sharpest public criticism of Israel’s operations in the territory. 

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“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top,” Biden told reporters. The president said he’s seeking a “sustained pause in the fighting” to help aid Palestinian civilians.

“I’m pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire,” Biden said. “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and it’s gotta stop.”

A day before Biden’s comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a cease-fire proposal from Hamas, saying the terms were “bizarre.” On Thursday, Israel bombed areas in Rafah, a city located in the southern Gaza strip which is where more than half of Gaza’s population has been pushed to for shelter.

“There is no other solution but a complete and final victory,” Netanyahu said in a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 7. “If Hamas will survive in Gaza, it’s only a question of time until the next massacre.”