Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security adviser, on Friday downplayed differences between the United States and Israel over the war against Hamas in Gaza, even as Mr. Biden escalated criticism of Israel's behavior.
A day after Biden administration officials said they wanted Israel to end its large-scale ground and air campaign in Gaza within weeks and move to more targeted operations against Hamas, Mr. Sullivan declined to publicly discuss a timeline and stressed that both the United States and…Israel expected that the pace of fighting would eventually slow. But Israel has claimed its operations could last “months”.
“When Israel launched this campaign to eradicate the terrorist threat that Hamas poses to the state of Israel, it was clear from the beginning that this war would be phased,” Sullivan told reporters in Tel Aviv, where he was spending two months Phases concluded days of meetings with Israeli leaders. He added that the next phase of the conflict would focus more on targeting Hamas leadership and conducting intelligence-gathering operations, without elaborating on what type they would be.
“There is no contradiction,” Mr. Sullivan added, “between saying that the fight will last for months and saying that during those months different phases will take place at different times, including the transition from high-intensity operations to more targeted operations. ” ,” he said.
Mr. Sullivan said the timing and conditions under which the transition will take place were the subject of discussions he held on Thursday and Friday with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his war cabinet.
“I think it's really important that these conversations take place in a spirit of partnership first,” Mr. Sullivan said. “We're not here to tell anyone, 'You have to do Hamas continues to pose no threat while protecting the lives of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
“We set out what we believe is the best path forward. We are doing this behind closed doors because we believe this is the best way to move toward an approach that meets these goals,” Mr. Sullivan said.
Discussions on the timing and conditions for a transition to more targeted operations would also need to be conducted in camera, Mr. Sullivan said, to avoid leaking plans to Hamas.
During their meetings in Israel on Thursday, Israeli leaders presented Mr. Sullivan with their own timetable for launching a more targeted offensive — one that was slower than the one favored by Mr. Biden and some of his advisers, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said before the meeting with Mr. Sullivan on Thursday that the campaign against Hamas would last “more than several months.”
Mr Biden said this week that Israel was beginning to lose international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza, a much harsher assessment than his previous public comments urging greater care in protecting civilians. But White House officials have since declined to repeat Mr. Biden's characterization.
Palestinians looked through rubble at a destroyed residential building in Rafah, Gaza, on Friday. Photo credit: Hatem Ali/Associated Press
The Biden administration is under pressure at home and abroad to rein in Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East, as the Palestinian death toll rises.
Israel began the war in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 240 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Israel responded with more than two months of bombing and a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 15,000 people and likely thousands more and forcing most of the territory's 2.2 million people to flee, according to Gaza health authorities.
U.S. officials have stressed the need for Israel to reduce civilian casualties and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid as the United Nations warns of increasingly dire conditions in Gaza. Mr. Sullivan said Israeli leaders told him that “their goal is to differentiate between innocent Palestinians and Hamas as we move forward.”
Later on Friday, Mr. Sullivan met in the Israeli-occupied West Bank with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas amid growing differences with Israel over post-war scenarios for Gaza.
At his news conference, he reiterated the American view that Israel should not reoccupy the Gaza Strip, from which it withdrew its forces in 2005.
The Biden administration's push to end heavy fighting has gained urgency as the war, now in its third month, threatens to expand across the region and potentially include other militant groups like Hamas Iran will be supported.
The Israeli military and Hezbollah, Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed militant group, have been carrying out cross-border attacks for weeks, prompting Israeli officials to hint at a stronger response. And Yemen's Houthi militia, which is also backed by Iran, has stepped up attacks on ships in the Red Sea, a critical corridor for global shipping.
On Israel's northern border, where Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks have forced civilians to evacuate their homes, Mr. Sullivan said Israeli citizens must be able to return to their homes and feel safe doing so. But Mr. Sullivan said the United States was convinced “that the threat can be addressed through diplomacy and does not require starting a new war.”
— Yara Bayoumy reports from Tel Aviv