The White House is reportedly considering using its arms sales to Israel as a bargaining chip to try to de-escalate the Gaza conflict, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war is going “better than that many expected.
President Biden’s team recently ordered Pentagon officials to review additional American weaponry requested by Israel to see if it could be used to pressure the Jewish country to reduce its war against Palestinian Gaza, NBC reported Sunday, citing three officials. current Americans and a former American. one.
The White House responded later Sunday saying there has been no change “in our policy.
“Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself against the threat from Hamas, while respecting international humanitarian law and protecting civilian lives, and we remain committed to supporting Israel in its fight against Hamas,” the Security Council said. White House Homeland Security in a statement. statement.
“We have done it since October 7 and we will continue to do it. There has been no change in our policy,” the council added, referring to the October massacre of more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, a massacre that sparked the war.
But NBC sources say the Biden administration has considered slowing or pausing arms deliveries sought by Israel.
President Biden’s administration has reportedly been considering using its arms sales to Israel as leverage to de-escalate the war in Gaza. AP Among the weapons at stake are those used for precision airstrikes in Gaza. Ismael Mohamad/UPI/Shutterstock
Among the weaponry are 155mm artillery shells and joint direct attack munitions, which are used for precise airstrikes in Gaza, the sources said.
The idea of putting pressure on Israel with weapons emerged when the death toll in Gaza surpassed 26,000 on Friday, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
Biden and other US officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the high civilian death toll, concerns that were revived after reports of Israeli airstrikes that hit a refugee shelter in Khan Younis last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the war against Hamas to the United States’ war against the Islamic State terrorist group, noting that “it took the United States and its allies nine months to defeat the radical forces in Mosul” in Iraq. AP The war between Israel and Hamas has raged for nearly four months, and the Israel Defense Forces recently reduced its ground forces after taking control of half of Gaza. AFP via Getty Images Intense airstrikes continue on southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians had fled. AFP via Getty Images
Biden has also taken hits from his political base over the war, as many Democrats have criticized US arms sales to Israel in the conflict.
Even Netanyahu has acknowledged the gap between him and Biden, but the Israeli prime minister noted Sunday that the agreed goal of the war remains the same.
“We agree on the goal of the war to destroy Hamas,” Netanyahu told the Wall Street Journal. “That doesn’t mean we haven’t had differences of opinion, but we have worked to overcome them.”
The Hamas-run Health Ministry estimates the death toll in Gaza at more than 26,000, but does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists. APAImages/Shutterstock US officials have repeatedly expressed concern about Israeli airstrikes hitting or damaging civilian shelters. Xinhua/Shutterstock
When asked how the war was going, he replied: “Better than many expected.”
Netanyahu compared the war against Hamas to the United States’ war against the Islamic State terrorist group, noting that “it took the United States and its allies nine months to defeat the radical forces in Mosul” in Iraq.
“Mosul is smaller than Gaza and did not have a huge underground terrorist infrastructure,” Netanyahu added. “We are already in the fourth month, but we have had difficult days.”
Even though US intelligence estimates that less than a third of Hamas forces have been killed and that many destroyed cells have resurfaced once the IDF advances, Netanyahu believes the war is progressing in Israel’s favor.
But what will happen next remains unclear, with the United States favoring a two-state solution in which Gaza is governed by a reformed Palestinian Authority, while Netanyahu suggested that peace will remain elusive because of the Palestinians.
“[My colleagues] “I understand that the problem is that the Palestinians do not want peace with Israel but peace without Israel,” he said. “There has been persistent opposition among Palestinian leaders to the very existence of the State of Israel.”
With no end to the war in sight, negotiations over the release of the more than 130 hostages in Gaza also remain up in the air.
Netanyahu said a summit in Paris to discuss a possible hostage release deal and a temporary ceasefire with Hamas ended Sunday afternoon without reaching a consensus.
“Recently, the intelligence summit in Europe ended with the participation of the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, the head of the Shin Bet, Ronan Bar, and the reservist colonel Nitzan Alon, with the head of the CIA, the prime minister of Qatar and the Egyptian minister of intelligence,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
“The meeting was defined as a constructive meeting. “There are still important gaps which the parties will continue to discuss this week in additional mutual meetings,” the office added.
While Hamas and Israel appear to agree to a temporary truce to exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners, the Jewish state has repeatedly rejected the terrorist groups’ demand for the release of all prisoners and Israel’s departure from Gaza.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn