Have relations between the leaders of the United States and Israel ever been this bad?

US Correspondent Dan Rivers and Washington News Editor Jonathan Wald report

It is possible to think of plenty of times US-Israeli relations have been strained.

But keen watchers of the dynamic between leaders of the two countries say the current situation is unprecedented.

“Terra Incognita” (or uncharted territory) is how former State Department Middle East Negotiator Aaron David Miller sums up the souring relations between US President Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two men had their first phone call in over a month on Monday, and it was described as “business-like” and “full-throated” by the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

In a briefing to the press Mr Sullivan said the call had not ended abruptly.

But there is no doubt there is a serious difference of opinion about how Israel should proceed in Gaza, given the warnings about famine and the mounting civilian casualties.

This is especially true in the city of Rafah where most of Gaza’s displaced Palestinian civilians - more than one million - are sheltering and where Israel intends to expand its offensive against Hamas.

To that end, it was announced by the White House on Monday that an “integrated delegation” of Israeli officials will be coming to Washington DC to “get down to brass tacks” and to “hear US concerns about Israel’s current Rafah planning”.

Mr Miller thinks the US-Israel relationship has never been under this level of stress before.

Last week the most senior elected Jewish leader in the US, Democrat Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, called Mr Netanyahu “an obstacle to peace” and raised the need for fresh Israeli elections.

Mr Netanyahu hit back via CNN over the weekend, saying “it’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there.

"That’s something that Israel, the Israeli public does on its own, and we’re not a banana republic”.

What’s unclear now is which will happen first: Israel’s planned operation in Rafah or a successful outcome of the peace talks being held in Qatar.

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The latter may delay the former, perhaps carving out space for a more substantive deal to end the war.

But Hamas is refusing to sign up to the deal to release elderly, injured and sick hostages in return for a six-week pause in fighting.

Their intermediaries in Doha are talking with David Barnea, the head of Israel’s foreign intelligence service, Mossad, as well as US Officials, including the Head of the CIA, Bill Burns.

But as Jake Sullivan said on Monday, that deal is proving “elusive”.

All the while the humanitarian cost of the of war is growing.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring horrifying levels of hunger and suffering".

"This is the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded by the integrated food security classification system, anywhere, any time,” he said.

It is a grim and unprecedented situation, preoccupying a president who right now appears unable to reign in one of America’s closest allies.

Mr Netanyahu has form at infuriating the Washington elite.

Bill Clinton famously emerged from a meeting with him in 1996 exclaiming in frustration: “Who is the f***ing superpower here?”

James Baker temporarily banned Mr Netanyahu from his state department.

Joe Biden reportedly has called him a “f***ing a**hole”.

Mr Netanyahu knows once the war ends, it’s likely his political career will too. He’s in no hurry to start the Rafah offensive or to bring it to a swift conclusion.

While Israel has managed to kill the number three in Hamas Marwan Issa, its leader Yahya Sinwar remains at large.

That provides enough cover for Mr Netanyahu to justify the continued operation, even in the face of catastrophic human cost.

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