The Americans say Israel’s strong response to the October 7 Hamas attack, which killed more than 1,400 people and took more than 240 hostages, reflects the importance the country attaches to restoring deterrence against adversary attacks in the region. . The Israeli army’s image of power was shaken by the October 7 attack, officials say.
The unfolding humanitarian crisis in Hamas-controlled Gaza, where more than 9,400 people have been killed, according to the Health Ministry, has sparked outrage in the region, in the United States and around the world, prompting the Biden administration to become more vocal saying that Israel must do more to protect civilians.
Mr Blinken urged Israel to agree to a series of pauses in the fighting to ease the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the exit of foreigners from the enclave, but Mr Netanyahu rejected the idea, saying that any pause would be conditional on the release of all Israeli hostages.
In the first two weeks of the war, roughly 90 percent of the munitions Israel dropped in Gaza were 1,000- to 2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs, a senior U.S. military official said. The remainder were 250-pound small diameter bombs.
Asked about the US request to use smaller bombs, an Israeli army spokesman, Major Nir Dinar, said: “We do not comment on munitions and our discussions with allies.”
Israel used at least two 2,000-pound bombs on Tuesday in an airstrike on Jabaliya, a densely populated area just north of Gaza City, according to experts and an analysis by The New York Times of satellite images, photos and videos.
U.S. military officials say the smaller bombs are much better suited to Gaza’s densely populated urban environment. But Israel has built up a stockpile of larger bombs over the years, mainly intended to target Hezbollah’s hardened military positions in Lebanon.
The United States is now trying to send more smaller bombs to Israel, the senior military official said. If the United States can get these smaller munitions to Israel, U.S. officials hope Israel will use them to limit the risk to civilians.
The United States has also increased the amount of intelligence it collects in Gaza, with U.S. drones flying over the enclave in search of hostages held by Hamas and other groups, and U.S. military satellites diverted to monitor the enclave. The United States is also using aircraft on the two carriers in the Mediterranean to help gather additional intelligence, including electronic intercepts.
Although the United States has increased the amount of intelligence it shares with Israel, U.S. officials emphasized that they do not help Israel choose targets for attacks.
U.S. officials believe that the less judicious Israel is and the greater the Palestinian death toll, the faster pressure will mount on its leaders to end the military operation. A more targeted campaign, U.S. officials say, could last longer and do more lasting damage to Hamas’ military wing.
“We are doing our best to destroy Hamas alone, without harming civilians,” said Iddo Ben-Anat, a deputy brigade commander who led part of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Arab leaders met with Mr Blinken in Amman, Jordan, on Saturday and demanded an immediate ceasefire, increasing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to rein in Israel’s campaign.
But Mr Blinken publicly rejected the idea, saying: “We believe that a ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7 .”
Democratic lawmakers and terrorism experts have said that the higher the number of civilian casualties, the greater the resentment that will build in Gaza, resentment that Hamas can use to build further support.
Rep. Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts and an Iraq war veteran, said America’s biggest mistake in that conflict was trying to provide “military solutions to fundamentally political problems.”
“Israel is not going to win its war against Hamas, which it has every right to do, through military means alone,” Mr Moulton said. “And often the wrong military tools, like bombs that kill too many civilians, make the political end game harder to achieve.”
At the news conference in Tel Aviv, Mr. Blinken appeared to indirectly acknowledge this risk, arguing that while Hamas had to be “physically” defeated, the international community had to ensure that Hamas would not gain more followers in the process.
Mr. Blinken said that Hamas must be fought not only with military force, but also with “a better future, with a better vision” for the Palestinian people.
“Because in the absence of that, even after Hamas, those who sing the siren song of nihilism will find open ears,” Mr. Blinken said.