Several U.S. officials have reportedly criticized recent moves of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid heavy bombardment of the Syrian capital Damascus, and the attack on a church in Gaza, with one of them calling him "a madman."
"Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time," one White House official told Axios, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
According to the report, published on Sunday, the Trump team is said to be fretting about Netanyahu, with one official saying there's growing skepticism inside the administration about the Israeli prime minister.
A second senior U.S. official also pointed to the shelling of a church in Gaza, which reportedly led U.S. President Donald Trump to call Netanyahu and demand an explanation.
"The feeling is that every day there is something new. What the f***?," Axios quoted the official as saying.
Six U.S. officials told Axios that despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that halted last week's escalation in Syria on Friday, the week ended with the White House significantly more alarmed about Netanyahu and his regional policies.
However, Trump has so far refrained from public criticism and it's unclear if he shares his advisers' frustrations, the report added.
Yet, on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was "caught off guard" by the recent Israeli strikes in Syria and on a Catholic church in Gaza.
Her comments were a rare suggestion of daylight between Trump and Netanyahu, who have often been aligned on politics and foreign policy, particularly with the recent attacks on Iran's nuclear program.
However, Trump is pushing for an end to the war in Gaza and trying to support the new Syrian government as the country emerges from years of civil war, and Israeli military operations have threatened to complicate those initiatives.
Israel has expanded its regional offensive following the start of its war on Gaza. It launched attacks on southern Lebanon on the pretext of the conflict with Hezbollah and also had a brief war with Iran last month.
Lastly, it also hit governmental facilities in Damascus amid conflict between Bedouin tribes and the Druze group in southern Syria.
Leavitt told reporters that Trump has "a good working relationship" with Netanyahu, but "he was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic church in Gaza."
"In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations," Leavitt said.
"In addition to Syria and the attack on the church in Gaza, the murder of Palestinian American Saif Musallet by a mob of Israeli settlers last weekend also sparked pushback from the Trump administration toward Netanyahu's stridently pro-settler government," the report by Axios also said.
Trump's special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, told The Associated Press (AP) that Israel's intervention in Syria "creates another very confusing chapter" and "came at a very bad time."
