US Presses Israel on Civilian Casualties In Gaza

The United States has ramped up pressure on Israel to minimise civilian deaths in Gaza as Washington presses its ally to shift to a “lower intensity” war against Hamas.

Speaking to reporters as his top national security adviser visited Israel on Thursday, US President Joe Biden urged Israel to take greater care to protect civilians.

“I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives. Not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful,” Biden told reporters when asked whether Israel should scale back its military campaign in Gaza.

Biden’s comments came as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli war cabinet to discuss conditions for transitioning to more targeted military operations in Gaza.

Sullivan and Netanyahu discussed “objectives, phasing and setting conditions for shifts over time from high-intensity clearing operations to lower-intensity surgical operations against Hamas remnants”, the White House said in a statement.

White House spokesman John Kirby said later that Sullivan discussed a possible transition to “lower-intensity operations” in the near future, but the administration has not put a “timestamp” on the shift.

Kirby said Washington wants to see the war end as soon as possible, but Hamas has the ultimate responsibility for ending the conflict.

“They can end it right now by letting those people go, by ordering their fighters to lay down their arms, and by turning in everyone else responsible for the October 7th attacks,” he said.

“Jake also discussed the next phase of Israel’s military campaign.  And he asked hard questions, as we have been doing, about what all that could look like.”

Sullivan’s visit to Israel, which continues on Friday with meetings with top Israeli officials including President Isaac Herzog, comes amid signs of growing divisions between Biden and Netanyahu over the death toll in Gaza and the timeframe for ending the war.

ALJAZEERA