The Biden administration is pressing Israel to move to the next stage of its war in Gaza in the near future due to concerns about the rising Palestinian death toll.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli war Cabinet on Thursday and he pressed the Israelis to move away from "high intensity operations" to “more targeted operations.”
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“The issue really is, when does Israel shift from the high-intensity military operations that are underway today to a different phase of this conflict, one that’s more precise, more targeted, more driven towards things like those high-value individuals?” Sullivan said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News.
National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on Thursday that Sullivan discussed the "possible transitioning from what we would call high-intensity operations, which is what we're seeing them do now, to lower-intensity operations sometime in the near future," though he declined to specify when he wanted to see that shift take place.
A senior administration official described the moment as an inflection point and described the moment as a “shift from major clearance ground operations” to “a more targeted surgical intelligence driven kind of longer-term effort against high-value targets [and] specific military infrastructure.”
Sullivan, while in Israel, acknowledged the war “is going to take months,” which is a timeline Israeli officials have also referenced.
Israel's military operations in Gaza have resulted in a staggering death toll that far exceeds previous recent iterations of Israeli-Hamas fighting. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has said the death toll is up to over 18,000 people, many of whom are women and children, though it does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in the death toll. Israeli leaders have said roughly 7,000 Hamas terrorists have been killed, meaning more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in the nine weeks of war.
"When the administration says that they’re looking to reduce high-intensity operations, I believe they are advocating for a reduction in aerial bombardment and moving more quickly during the ground clearance operations to bring major combat operations to an end as quickly as possible," Alex Plitsas, an expert with the Atlantic Council, told the Washington Examiner. "It would increase the burden on ground troops and increase the risk, but the U.S. believes that reducing aerial bombardment will reduce civilian casualties."
The continued bombing of Gaza and the continually increasing death toll has prompted stronger criticism from U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, who said on Thursday, “I want [Israel] to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful," and days earlier, he accused it of the "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza.
The president's recent comments represent the seemingly growing rift between him and Netanyahu, despite Biden's long track record of strong support for Israel, even as Sullivan insists, “There’s no contradiction between saying the fight is going to take months and also saying that different phases will take place at different times over those months, including the transition from the high-intensity operations to more targeted operations."
The Biden administration is facing pressure internationally and domestically, including from within his own political party, to push Israel to end the conflict, though it has refrained from those calls, going as far as saying it would not support a permanent ceasefire that would leave Hamas in power in Gaza.
Biden and Netanyahu also disagree on who should run Gaza once the war is over and if Hamas is removed from power in the enclave.
U.S. government leaders have publicly proposed a "revitalized" Palestinian Authority, which currently runs the West Bank, should lead both Palestinian territories, while Netanyahu has publicly rebuked that option. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said earlier this month that a "revitalized" Palestinian Authority would include "cracking down on corruption," increased "engagement with civil society," and the development of the capabilities of their security forces.
“After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism, and finance terrorism,” Netanyahu said, referring to the Palestinian Authority in a statement Tuesday.
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"The day after the war scenario is the least understood at the moment. I believe these Israelis would like to see an external security force take control if possible, but governance is still an open question," Plitsas added. "The reconstruction and nation and state building is going to take a fair amount of time. That’s also the most dangerous where an insurgency could emerge. It’s an important question that needs to be answered, but there’s still time."
Sullivan is set to meet with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Friday.