By KARIN LAUB, NAJIB JOBAIN and BASSEM MROUE (Associated Press)
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The U.S. and Israel have mentioned a timetable for scaling again intense fight operations within the battle towards Hamas, regardless that they agree the general struggle will take months, an envoy mentioned Friday, amid rising American unease concerning the mounting dying toll in Gaza.
U.S. nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan additionally met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to debate the besieged enclave’s postwar future, which, in response to a senior U.S. official, may embody bringing again Palestinian safety forces pushed from their jobs in Gaza by Hamas in its 2007 takeover. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
American and Israeli officers have been imprecise in public about how Gaza will likely be run if Israel achieves its purpose of ending Hamas management — and the concept, floated as one in every of a number of, seemed to be the primary time Washington provided some element on its imaginative and prescient for safety preparations within the enclave.
Any function for Palestinian safety forces in Gaza is certain to elicit sturdy opposition from Israel, which seeks to preserve an open-ended safety presence there and says it gained’t permit a postwar foothold for the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority, which administers components of the Israeli-occupied West Bank however is deeply unpopular with Palestinians.
In conferences with Israeli leaders on Thursday and Friday, Sullivan mentioned a timetable for winding down the extreme fight section of the battle.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed Sullivan that it will take months to destroy Hamas, however didn’t say whether or not his estimate referred to the present section of heavy airstrikes and floor battles.
Sullivan mentioned Friday that “there is 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.”
He mentioned he mentioned a timeline with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s War Cabinet, and that such conversations would proceed throughout an upcoming go to by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The offensive, triggered by the unprecedented Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, has flattened a lot of northern Gaza and pushed 80% of Gaza’s inhabitants of two.3 million from their properties. Displaced folks have squeezed into shelters primarily within the south in a spiraling humanitarian disaster.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has expressed unease over Israel’s failure to scale back civilian casualties and its plans for the way forward for Gaza, however the White House continues to supply wholehearted assist for Israel with weapons shipments and diplomatic backing.
“I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives,” Biden mentioned Thursday when requested if he desires Israel to scale down its operations by the top of the month. “Not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful.”
A lethal Hamas ambush on Israeli troops in Gaza City this week confirmed the group’s resilience and referred to as into query whether or not Israel can defeat it with out wiping out the whole territory.
Israel’s air and floor assault over the previous 10 weeks has killed greater than 18,700 Palestinians, in response to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Thousands extra are lacking and feared lifeless beneath the rubble.
The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Its newest rely didn’t specify what number of have been ladies and minors, however they’ve persistently made up round two-thirds of the lifeless in earlier tallies.
On Friday morning, communications companies, which telecommunications supplier Paltel mentioned Thursday have been lower because of ongoing preventing, nonetheless seemed to be down throughout Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes and tank shelling continued in a single day and into Friday, together with within the southern metropolis of Rafah, a part of the shrinking areas of tiny, densely populated Gaza to which Palestinian civilians had been informed by Israel to evacuate. At least one individual was killed, in response to an Associated Press journalist who noticed the physique arriving at a neighborhood hospital.
The Qatar-based tv community Al Jazeera mentioned its chief correspondent in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, was wounded in his proper arm by shrapnel in a drone strike at a school-turned-shelter within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis. The community mentioned Gaza cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was additionally wounded. In October, Dahdouh’s spouse, son, daughter and a grandson have been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Israelis stay strongly supportive of the battle and see it as crucial to forestall a repeat of Oct. 7, when Palestinian terrorists attacked communities throughout southern Israel, killing round 1,200 folks, principally civilians, and taking some 240 hostage. A complete of 116 troopers have been killed within the floor offensive, which started Oct. 27.
The Israeli army on Friday confirmed the restoration of the our bodies of three hostages. Two have been troopers, each aged 19, and the third was a 28-year-old twin French-Israeli nationwide kidnapped from a music competition.
More than 100 hostages have been freed, most throughout a cease-fire final month in change for the discharge of 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Sullivan met Friday with Abbas, who misplaced management of Gaza when Hamas drove out his safety forces in 2007. The takeover got here a 12 months after Hamas defeated Abbas’ Fatah social gathering in parliament elections and the rivals didn’t kind a unity authorities.
A senior U.S. official mentioned that Sullivan and others have mentioned the prospect of getting these related to the Palestinian Authority safety forces earlier than the Hamas takeover function the “nucleus” of postwar peacekeeping in Gaza.
It was one thought of many being thought of for establishing safety in Gaza, mentioned the official, who spoke on situation of anonymity in keeping with White House floor guidelines. He mentioned such talks have been going down with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and regional companions.
The U.S. has mentioned it will definitely desires to see the West Bank and Gaza beneath a unified Palestinian authorities, as a precursor to a Palestinian state — an thought soundly rejected by Netanyahu, who leads a right-wing authorities that’s against Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian officers have mentioned they may solely think about a postwar function in Gaza within the context of concrete U.S.-backed steps towards Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinian prime minister informed The Associated Press that it’s time for the United States to deal extra firmly with Israel, significantly on Washington’s requires negotiations for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian battle.
“Now that the United States has talked the talk, we want Washington to walk the walk,” Mohammed Shtayyeh mentioned Thursday. “If the United States cannot deliver Israel, who can?”
As a part of postwar eventualities, Washington has additionally referred to as for revitalizing the Palestinian Authority, with out letting on whether or not such reforms would require personnel modifications or basic elections, which final befell 17 years in the past.
The 88-year-old Abbas is deeply unpopular, with a ballot revealed Wednesday indicating near 90% of Palestinians need him to resign. Meanwhile, Palestinian assist for Hamas has tripled within the West Bank, with a small uptick in Gaza, in response to the ballot. Still, a majority of Palestinians don’t again Hamas, in response to the survey.
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Jobain reported from Rafah, Gaza Strip, and Mroue from Beirut. Associated Press journalists Aamer Madhani in Washington, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed.
Full AP protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”