Tried all the fixes from the web that included disabling Javascript, clearing the cache, and rebooting the phone but I was still getting the frozen white interface that sometimes half loaded a website then froze to not loading anything. I gave up and started using Firefox.

One day months later, I placed a link in Notes to open in Firefox but forgot to copy it first. I tapped on it, it loaded in Safari and I was able close all other tabs and reopen Safari without the link. I repeated this on my other devices and they too were fixed.

I recommend in Safari settings that you allow open tabs to automatically close after a week.