Israel has 'not concluded' retaliation plans yet, Biden says
President Joe Biden told reporters Friday that the Israelis have "not concluded" how they will retaliate to Iran's missile attack, saying it's "under discussion."
During remarks in the White House briefing room, the president did say that if he "were in their shoes" he would be "thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields."
Pressed further on how Israel should respond, Biden said, "That's between me and them."
Asked by ABC News' Selina Wang about the general state of diplomacy with Israel, coming off a week where the president's calls for a cease-fire in Lebanon were chiefly ignored, Biden defended his relationship with the country.
"Look, our teams are in contact 12 hours a day. They're constantly in contact," Biden said. "They're not going to make a decision immediately."
On whether he thinks the Israelis are going to listen to his advice, Biden said, "What I know is the plan that I put together received the support of the U.N. Security Council and the vast majority of our allies around the world as a way to bring this to an end."
"Look, the Israelis have every right to respond to the vicious attacks on them, not just from Iranians but from everyone to Hezbollah to the Houthis," he said. "But the fact is that they have to be very much more careful about dealing with civilian casualties."
-ABC News' Justin Gomez