Differences between the United States and Israel are increasingly emerging, as images of bombing, death and hunger in Gaza gain prominence and become increasingly difficult to defend.
The White House communicated to the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu that the campaign of large-scale attacks in the Palestinian territory must come to an end before the end of the year.
According to the Biden Administration, it must begin the transition towards a phase of more specific objectives and more surgical operations, explained official sources quoted by The New York Times.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, warned Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday that Israel was increasingly isolated in the world due to the indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip and that it had to change its tactics in order not to fall further into the well of the isolation. Mass attacks are not the way to win the cause against Hamas, he told him.
The loneliness of Israel and the USA, together with only eight other countries, was demonstrated that same day at the UN. A total of 153 countries called for an immediate ceasefire. It was the second time since October 7, the beginning of the conflict, that Washington suffered this humiliation to the delight of its biggest rivals, Russia and China, who both times took it upon themselves to emphasize how the United States was on the wrong side.
So, faced with this situation, the vision of the United States Government involves a new stage in which Israel assigns small groups of the elite forces to enter and leave the populated places of Gaza, so that they carry out more precise missions to find the whereabouts and kill the leaders of Hamas, rescue the hostages and destroy the tunnels where they stay and move.
This proposal was made by Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor of the White House, who began a visit to Israel on Thursday. Sullivan discussed with Israeli officials a timetable for the end of the bombing and the beginning of the phase of less intensive operations supported by the US Government.
The call for a change in tactics comes after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stressed that the war against Hamas “may drag on for months” as a sign of Jerusalem’s determination to continue bombing Gaza.
US sources said Washington understands and accepts the argument to destroy Hamas after the bloody attack a couple of months ago. In the White House, they believe it is essential to guarantee Israel’s security, but they are betting on lowering the intensity.
