US President Joe Biden said he believed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” with his approach to the war in Gaza.

“I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical,” Biden said in an interview with US outlet MSNBC, when asked whether there was a red line for Israel.

“So there’s no red line [in which] I am going to cut off all weapons so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them,” he added, in reference to Israel’s air defense system.

“But there are red lines that if you cross,” Biden said, before changing course to add: “You cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas.] There’s other ways to deal with… the trauma caused by Hamas.”

Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries including the US, Israel and Germany.

The US president addressed Netanyahu, saying that “he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”

Biden described the death toll in Gaza, which has reached 30,960 as per the Hamas-run health ministry, as “contrary to what Israel stands for.”

He particularly echoed warnings of an Israeli invasion of the Gaza city of Rafah, where over 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering, having fled from other parts of the strip during the past five months.

Asked whether a cease-fire could still be reached before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, due to begin on the evening of March 10, Biden said: “I think it’s always possible. I never give up on that.”