From TN Ashok
Washington, Dec 19 : US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Israel’s PM Bensjsmin Netanyahu to get a clearer assessment from the state officials on their military operations, amid an intensifying rift between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza and the enclaves future after the war ends.
Biden has made it clear to Netanyahu that the IDF should not reoccupy Gaza while Netanyshu has said it will to ensure Hamas is prevented from attacking again.
Biden is under fire and increasing pressure from within the US nd the globsl community of leaders who want him to push Netanyahu away from the heavy bombardment of Gaza that has heard sustained calls for a ceasefire. Biden’s vote bank has also been rocked by the traditional Palestinian youth and Young Black voters who have vowed they won’t vote Biden in 2024 if he does not push for a ceasefire in Gaza and prevent further civilian casualties.
US officials expected Israel to transition by January to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas militants and leadership avoiding collateral damage to civilians in Gaza.
A senior defence official said Sunday that Israel’ is assessing the conditions necessary to move to that next phase of the conflict “on an hourly if not daily basis” and that Austin wants to hear “a very clear articulation of their self-assessment” on Monday, media reports said .
Austin will receive updates on how the Israel Defense Forces, the War Cabinet and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are assessing the current phase of the campaign in Gaza, while also getting a sense of what metrics they’re using to transition to the next phase, the official said.
Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also be in Israel, joining Austin for “meetings with senior Israeli officials,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
Austin’s conversations will focus on “the assessment of the campaign to date, specific operational milestones that need to be achieved,” the defense official said, adding that “we would expect any partner to be planning for what comes next.”
Austin’s visit comes on the heels of a visit to Tel Aviv by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and just days after blunt remarks by Biden calling on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, CNN reported.
Sullivan said Friday that Israel would be transitioning to another phase of the war “that is focused in more precise ways” on targeting the leadership of Hamas. Sullivan said Israel “tries to distinguish” between targets that would result in civilian deaths and targets that hit Hamas.
“What we have consistently said is that Israel has the intent to make sure that it is drawing those distinctions clearly and in a sustainable way,” Sullivan said. “And we want to see the results match up to that.”
Over 18,800 Palestinians have died in Gaza since October 7, 70% of whom are women and children, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which sources its numbers on data received from hospitals in Hamas-controlled Gaza, said in a statement Sunday.
Ahead of Austin’s visit, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday the US’ message to reduce civilian casualties is not “getting through clearly enough” to Israel. “We do have unacceptably high levels of civilian casualties. We see very loose rules of engagement – way looser than anything the United States would exercise,” the Maryland Democrat said on ABC’s “This Week.”
GOP presidential contender Chris Christie said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Israel should “lower the temperature inside the IDF if they can” in the wake of the accidental fatal shooting of three Israelis held hostage in Gaza. But the former New Jersey governor argued the administration’s public criticism of Israel is giving “aid and comfort to Hamas.”
While the senior defense official said Austin will deliver the message that US support of Israel’s right to self-defense is unwavering, Biden has been increasingly direct in public remarks that Israel has to do more to limit harming civilians.
Biden told Democratic donors in Washington that while Israel “has most of the world supporting it,” it is “starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place.” Biden said he did not want Israel to “stop going after Hamas,” but to “be more careful” and “be focused on how to save civilian lives.”
While in Israel on Monday, Austin will have “very specific areas” he wants to “drill down on” with the Israelis, including how they plan to increase humanitarian aid access and what steps they’re taking to “mitigate civilian harm, reports said.
The Biden administration has no plans to put conditions on its military aid to the country. And the senior defence official said Sunday that Austin’s commitment to Israel has not wavered. “He wants to make sure that Israel has the support and assistance necessary for it to defend and protect its citizens, “ the official said.