Israel on Thursday thanked the United States for its support with weapons for the war in Gaza and the veto at the UN of a possible ceasefire despite international pressure. The National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, has been received in Tel Aviv by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with the intention of both parties to iron out the differences that have arisen between the two allied countries over the management of the war in the Strip. Sullivan had to hear, however, that, no matter how much haste Washington demands, this large-scale military operation, which has already left more than 18,700 dead, will not be finished in weeks, but in months, as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told him. But from Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby slipped the convenience of the operation ending sooner rather than later. "We all want this to end as soon as possible," he said. Fighting and shelling continue to be intense across the Palestinian Mediterranean enclave as the humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of Gazans worsens.
Netanyahu and members of his war cabinet met at a military base with the U.S. delegation. "I greatly appreciate the U.S. support for Israel in supplying ammunition for the army and blocking the UN's attempts to stop the fighting," the prime minister said. Both sides insisted, according to a statement from the office of the head of the Israeli government, on their commitment to the release of all the hostages who remain in Gaza, more than 130, although fifteen have already been presumed dead.
Learn more
The latest news on the war in Gaza, live
"Our heroic fighters have not fallen in vain. From the deep pain of its fall, we are more determined than ever to continue fighting until Hamas is eliminated, until absolute victory," the prime minister said. His remarks follow Tuesday's ambush by Islamist militants in northern Gaza that killed nine soldiers.
Previously, Gallant had told Sullivan that, despite U.S. pressure, the armed conflict will not be over anytime soon. "Hamas is a terrorist organization ... with an underground and on-the-ground infrastructure that is not easy to destroy. It will require a period of time that will be more than several months, but we will overcome and destroy them," the defense minister told him, according to a statement.
President Joe Biden's administration, which has occasionally urged Israel to end its operation, endorsed Gallant's idea and tried not to put pressure on its ally. "How long will that take? I can't predict it," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington. "It has to take as much time as [the Israeli authorities] think is necessary to be able to eliminate the threat [from Hamas]. But obviously we all want this to end as soon as possible." In any case, The New York Times attributed to four anonymous official sources the information that Sullivan asked Israel to reduce the ground war in Gaza before the end of the year. The National Security Adviser addressed during his visit the possibility of moving to a "lower intensity" in operations, according to White House sources cited by Reuters, reports Iker Seisdedos.
Last week, the U.S. vetoed a possible humanitarian ceasefire in the U.N. Security Council. But Biden then warned that his ally is losing support due to the results of the intense and indiscriminate bombings, which have already caused more than 18,500 deaths. Washington also calls on Netanyahu not to close the door on the Palestinian Authority (PA) being part of Gaza's future once Israel tops Hamas, which is its main target.
The UN High Commissioner for Palestine Refugees Agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned that the population of the Strip, up to 2.3 million inhabitants in total, is now overcrowded in less than a third of the original territory, almost all of them to the south, next to the border with Egypt. There, he said during a speech in Geneva, they feel "betrayed" and "abandoned" by the international community. "There is nowhere to feel safe in Gaza," Lazzarini deplored as he called for a humanitarian ceasefire.
New communications blackout
Meanwhile, the war continues in the north and south of the Gaza Strip. Forty-five percent of the 45,29 bombs dropped by Israel from the air during the war are so-called unguided bombs, according to a U.S. intelligence source cited by CNN. The territory, where 000.1 million people live displaced in very precarious conditions, with almost no food, water, or electricity, suffered a new communications blackout on Thursday, the fifth since the war began, the Red Crescent warned. This, they add, not only impeded the communication of the teams on the ground, but directly affects the rescue and transfer of the wounded and sick.
In 69 days of war, Israel has killed more than 18,700 people, but has failed to hunt down any of Hamas' top leaders in the Strip. A sign that he needs to score a victory is the latest initiative in the form of flyers launched from the air in which he asks for citizen collaboration in exchange for money. "Think about your future. Confidentiality guaranteed," warns the pamphlet, disseminated on social networks and in the Israeli press, in which the faces of four senior militia leaders appear, in order of importance, along with the price that Israel would pay in the event that the information provided led to their capture.
First of all, you see the face of Yahia Sinwar, for which they offer $400,000 (about 365,000 euros). He is considered the top Hamas official in Gaza, whom some hostages reportedly saw in the tunnels before they were released during the truce in late November and whose home in Khan Younis the army said it had surrounded last week without knowing if he would be inside. He is followed, in order of importance in the paper distributed, by his brother Mohamed Sinwar ($300,000), Rafaa Salameh ($200,000) and Mohamed Deif ($100,000). In order to continue to cope with the military campaign — which began on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people in Israeli territory — the country approved an increase of about 7.160 billion euros in its budget on Wednesday.
Violence also continues in the West Bank, especially in Jenin, where the army killed at least 12 Palestinians in what is the most intense and prolonged incursion since the fighting began. One of them is a teenager killed while he was in the Jalil Suleiman hospital in that town, the scene of a three-day military operation, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), whose team witnessed the events without being able to save his life. In addition, the NGO adds, the soldiers stopped ambulances, forced the drivers to get out and, after stripping them naked, made them kneel in the street. "Since October 7 (the first day of the war), we have seen Israeli forces firing live bullets at the hospital, firing tear gas, blocking ambulances, humiliating and harassing medical staff and, now, shooting and killing someone on the hospital compound," the humanitarian organization laments through the social network X (formerly Twitter).
In an unusual reaction on the part of the army, the institution announced that it had withdrawn from the mission they have been carrying out for three days in the occupied city of Jenin (West Bank) several soldiers who recorded videos in a mosque singing Jewish songs and mocking Islam and Palestinians. Recordings of this kind come to light every day. In them, the uniformed men, mainly in Gaza, celebrate the blowing up of buildings, humiliate detainees, assault shops or homes and laugh at the humanitarian crisis suffered by Gazans due to the blockade to which Israel subjects the Strip. "The soldiers acted against the codes of conduct of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) inside a religious establishment," which is why "they were immediately removed" for "serious" offense and contrary to "the values" of the army, for which they will be punished, they announced on the social network X.
Follow all the international news on Facebook and X, or in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Read more
I'm already a subscriber
_