Status: 15.12.2023, 05:39 a.m.
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Smoke rises over the city of Rafah after an Israeli airstrike. © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
The U.S. continues to support Israel in the Gaza war, but is exerting pressure because of the many civilian casualties. Israel should fight Hamas in a more targeted manner. An army spokesman explains a tactic. The overview.
Tel Aviv/Gaza - Israel is under increasing pressure from the United States to show more consideration for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, but at the same time it is pledging its allies to a war that will be very long.
U.S. President Joe Biden said to Israel: "I want them to focus on how they can save the lives of civilians. They should not stop persecuting Hamas, but be more careful." At a meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Tel Aviv, Israel's Defense Minister Joav Galant made it clear that the war would continue for "more than a few months" until the Islamist Hamas was completely destroyed.
Netanyahu: Continue the war until victory
The terrorist organization has built "underground and above-ground infrastructure that is not easy to destroy," Galant told Sullivan. Following the meeting, Sullivan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of the war cabinet. Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would continue the war against Hamas "until absolute victory," according to his office. After Sullivan's talks, the U.S. government now expects a transition from the Israeli ground offensive with "high intensity" to more "targeted" operations.
This is an issue for "sometime in the near future," National Security Council communications director John Kirby said in Washington. "I don't want to commit to a specific time." They also do not want to tell the Islamist Hamas what will happen to them in the coming weeks or months. Kirby did not say what such a military operation might look like, referring to the Israeli government.
Army spokesman: Kill terrorists in tunnels
An Israeli army spokesman gave a little insight into what is in store for Hamas. "We have new methods of warfare that we will use to kill terrorists," Daniel Hagari said. Hamas terrorists, and especially its leaders, hid underground in their tunnels.
"We will infiltrate, plant explosives in places where we know the terrorists frequent them, and wait for the right moment to kill them underground," Hagari said. "The terrorists will not be safe underground.
Report: Tunnel Flooding Tests Successful
Israel's army has also tested flooding the tunnels, according to U.S. media reports. Seawater was pumped into some tunnels to find out whether the method was suitable for the large-scale destruction of the tunnel network. As the Times of Israel reported on the tests, "they appear to have been successful."
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The tunnels stretch for many kilometers. According to Israel, a number of terrorists are hiding there and are also holding hostages from Israel. In order to resist Israeli bombs from the air, some tunnels reach dozens of meters underground. Many tunnels are booby-trapped to kill Israeli soldiers.
U.S. National Security Advisor Holds Further Talks
Meanwhile, US National Security Advisor Sullivan plans to meet with Israeli President Izchak Herzog in the morning. According to a U.S. official, he will also meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on the same day. Referring to the end of the war and the future of the Gaza Strip, the U.S. official spoke of a "number of security forces linked to the Palestinian Authority," he told U.S. officials. These could "form a kind of nucleus" in the months after the war. "But this is something that we are discussing with the Palestinians and the Israelis and with regional partners," he said.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which was carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7. More than 1200,240 people were killed and around 18 hostages were taken to Gaza. Israel responded with massive air strikes and began a ground offensive in late October. According to the latest Hamas figures, some 700,<> people have been killed in attacks in the Gaza Strip so far.
Army spokesman: We are doing everything we can to get back the hostages
In view of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Israel has recently come under increasing international pressure - including from the United States. Israel, meanwhile, continues to worry about the 135 hostages still held by Hamas. "We will continue to do everything – everything – to bring all the hostages home," army spokesman Hagari said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Red Cross to exert more pressure to gain access to Hamas hostages.
"They have every possibility, every right and every expectation to exert public pressure on Hamas," Netanyahu said at a meeting with the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, in Tel Aviv. He handed her a package of medicines and called on the ICRC to "do its job and deliver them to the hostages in Gaza."
What is becoming important today
U.S. National Security Advisor Sullivan plans to meet with Israeli President Izchak Herzog. He also plans to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on the same day. Meanwhile, UN aid agencies are in Geneva to provide information on the situation in the Gaza Strip. Dpa