President Joe Biden said Thursday he wants the Israeli military to focus on saving civilian lives as it conducts its campaign to eliminate Hamas and faces mounting pressure over its military operations in Gaza.
Following a speech on prescription drug prices at the National Institutes of Health, the president was asked if he wanted the Israeli government to scale back its strikes against Hamas as it fights in Gaza.
“I want them to focus on how to save civilian lives. Not to stop going after Hamas, but to be more careful,” Biden replied.
Biden’s national security adviser is meeting with top Israeli officials over the next two days as the White House presses the Israelis to be more precise in their operations against Hamas in Gaza. Jake Sullivan told Israel’s Channel 12 News on Thursday night that he had an “intense, detailed” conversation with the Israeli prime minister and war cabinet about moving from a high-intensity phase to a more targeted approach there.
Sullivan’s visit comes amid a public rift between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza and disagreements over what a future for the Palestinians should look like once combat operations are over. Sullivan will also discuss efforts to secure the release of the eight American hostages still held by Hamas.
Sullivan met with Netanyahu on Thursday and will meet with other top Israeli officials, including President Isaac Herzog, through Friday.
Sullivan discussed transitioning the Israeli assault on Hamas to “lower-intensity operations” in the near future, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.
Kirby said Sullivan asked “tough questions” about the Israeli offensive, including efforts to be more surgical and precise in its targeting. And Sullivan raised the need to move to a new phase of the conflict, which has killed thousands of civilians in Gaza.
“He talked about a possible transition from what we would call high-intensity operations, which is what we’re seeing them do now, to lower-intensity operations at some point, you know, in the near future,” Kirby said.
Of the conversation, Sullivan said later on Thursday: “I’ll just say we had a very constructive conversation about those phases and how to think about transitioning from high intensity to a different phase of the war.” He declined to give further details on a possible timeframe.
According to a senior US official, the Biden administration has signalled to Israel that it wants it to move to a lower-intensity phase of its war against Hamas within weeks – possibly by the end of the year.
The US hopes a new phase would minimise civilian deaths, which have been mounting in Gaza and prompting an international outcry.
That U.S. officials expect the current phase of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza, targeting the southern end of the strip, to last several weeks before Israel shifts, possibly by January, to a lower-intensity, hyper-localised strategy narrowly targeting specific Hamas operatives and leaders.
The US expects Israel to shift to a lower-intensity strategy focused on intelligence-based raids against Hamas, the official said, though the timing of that shift would be based on conditions on the ground.
The talks amount to a “back and forth” between the US and Israel, the official said.
“The Israelis have briefed us on their thinking about potential timeframes, and Jake has had a very good discussion about the kind of conditions that we all hope to see, of course,” the official said.
US officials say they know Israel will continue to pursue the Hamas leadership and believe it’s critical for them to take out the Hamas leadership. But they have consistently pressed Israel to take steps to protect civilians as it pursues the group responsible for the 7 October terror attacks.
“It’s not really about the timeframe, it’s about the conditions that will be set. And the Israelis have briefed us in tremendous detail on the phasing of their overall campaign,” the senior administration official said, adding that it would be “irresponsible for anybody dealing with these issues to talk about timeframes”.
But in a statement released after his meeting with Sullivan, Netanyahu said he would settle for nothing less than total victory over Hamas.
“Our heroic soldiers did not die in vain,” the Israeli prime minister said. “Out of the deep pain of their fall, we are more determined than ever to continue fighting until Hamas is eliminated – until total victory.”
In a meeting on Thursday, Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, told Sullivan that the war in Gaza would last “more than several months”, according to the Israeli defence ministry.
“It will take time – it will take more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them (Hamas),” Gallant said, according to a transcript of the meeting released by the Israeli Defence Ministry on Thursday.
Gallant also thanked Sullivan for US support for Israel’s campaign in Gaza, saying “the United States and Israel share common interests, common values, and in this war we also share common goals”.
According to a readout provided by Netanyahu’s office, the prime minister and Sullivan also “emphasised their commitment to achieving the release of all hostages remaining in Gaza”.
“The two sides discussed the continuation of the war until victory and the achievement of shared goals, first and foremost the elimination of Hamas, the release of the hostages, the dismantling of Hamas’ military capabilities and the end of its rule in Gaza,” a Netanyahu spokesman said on X.
Amid questions about how much influence the administration has over Israeli war plans, the official said the US successfully advised Israel to change some of its plans in the early days of the conflict.
“The Israelis had ideas for the military campaign very early on that we found problematic,” the official said, pointing to Biden’s visit to Israel as a turning point when plans for the ground campaign were “adjusted” based on American advice and recommendations.
Eight Americans are among more than 100 hostages held by Hamas since the group’s 7 October attack on Israel. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed in the attack.
More than 18,000 Palestinians were killed and more than 50,000 injured in the subsequent Israeli response, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Biden met with family members of the eight American hostages at the White House on Wednesday.
Before arriving in Israel, Sullivan travelled to Saudi Arabia to meet the country’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, a person familiar with the matter said.
