Support for Israel may erode if outcry on humanitarian suffering in Gaza intensifies: US

WASHINGTON DC: US President Joe Biden and his top advisors have warned Israel that it will become increasingly difficult for it to pursue its military goals in Gaza as global outcry intensifies about the scale of humanitarian suffering in the crisis-stricken region, CNN reported.

President Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have all explicitly pressed the case in recent private conversations with Israel, stressing that eroding support will have "dire strategic consequences" for Israel Defense Forces operations against Hamas.

The American officials also believe there is limited time for Israel to try to accomplish its stated objective of taking out Hamas in its current operation before the uproar over the humanitarian suffering and civilian casualties - and calls for a ceasefire - reaches a tipping point, according to CNN.

It reported citing sources that there is recognition within the Biden administration that the moment may arrive soon. Some of the president's close advisors even believe that there are only weeks, not months until rebuffing the pressure on the US government to publicly call for a ceasefire becomes untenable. However, there have been no signs that Israel's offensive is slowing.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it is surrounding Gaza City and "deepening" its operations there. The Israeli airstrikes that targeted a refugee camp in northern Gaza this week, resulting in grim scenes of widespread destruction and deaths have been "particularly jarring" to Biden and his national security team, CNN reported citing sources.

The president "didn't like this at all," one of the sources said. "The problem for [Israel] is that the criticism is getting louder, not just among their detractors, but from their best friends," CNN quoted a senior administration official as saying. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed the strike was targeting a Hamas commander hiding in an underground bunker and that when the complex imploded it possibly collapsed nearby buildings.

The US President has not established any red lines for Israel, and till now, the White House has taken great pains to avoid calling for a ceasefire, arguing that doing so would only help Hamas by giving the terrorist organization time to regroup and plot future operations.

But, Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the relentless images of Palestinian women and children being pulled from rubble could start to narrow Israel's ability to move forward with its current operation, according to senior administration officials, CNN reported.

In conversations with Netanyahu, Biden also warned that Israel will be "judged harshly" by the international community if it "doesn't take steps to significantly ease humanitarian suffering and minimize Palestinian civilian deaths"

Moreover, Biden also expressed concern with Netanyahu about the surge in violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and was emphatic that the attacks had to stop, CNN reported citing a source briefed on the conversation.

Biden and top national security officials have also ramped up their calls for humanitarian pauses in the fighting to allow Hamas-held hostages to come out of Gaza and aid to flow in.

Those pauses - which US officials say are entirely different from a ceasefire and localized in scope and limited in duration - are one of several specific issues top American officials have pressed Israel on in recent days as outcry mounts over the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

Others include maintaining phone and internet connectivity on the strip, allowing fuel and water into Gaza and curbing escalating violence on the West Bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Israel military says there are fuel supplies in Gaza being held by Hamas, which are not being distributed for humanitarian purposes, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu explicitly rejected some of those calls on Friday as Blinken visited Israel and met with the Israeli war cabinet. The prime minister specifically said his government opposed any temporary ceasefire in Gaza unless Hamas freed all the hostages it holds.

"I made it clear that we are going with full steam ahead, and that Israel refuses any temporary ceasefire that does not involve the release of the kidnapped Israelis," Netanyahu said in televised remarks.

"Israel is not allowing fuel into Gaza and objects to funds being transferred into the Strip," CNN quoted him as saying.

Over the course of their 10 phone calls, Biden has pressed Netanyahu on specific points and action items, including significantly increasing the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza, facilitating the departure of foreign nationals from Gaza and curbing extremist settler violence against Palestinians on the West Bank, CNN reported.