Washington Eager for Gaza War Deadline, Post-War Plans, as Israel Insists on Victory First

If President Biden’s national security adviser, Jacob Sullivan, was hoping to receive a firm timeline for ending the Gaza war, his arrival at Tel Aviv was a disappointment. “More than several months,” was the message that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conveyed to him. Hamas marked the 36th anniversary of its founding Thursday. While fighting in Gaza intensifies, Mr. Sullivan seems eager to map out the “day after” the war. Yet, even as he reportedly told cabinet members that this phase of the war must end by year’s end, a new complication arose: for the first time, Hamas expanded its terrorist activities into Europe. The Mossad announced Thursday that officials in Denmark arrested seven operatives “acting on behalf” of Hamas “and foiled an attack aimed at killing innocent citizens on European soil.” German offices confirmed the group was composed of Hamas members. Caught in southern Denmark, they planned to hit two Jewish targets at Copenhagen, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan. Back in Gaza, combat above and below ground is intensifying. Unlike last year, when Hamas’s chief in the Strip, Yahya Sinwar, addressed cheering crowds on the occasion of the 35th anniversary, this year he is hiding in an underground tunnel with a $400,000 Israeli prize on his head. The Israel Defense Force published images of 70 Hamas fighters who laid down arms Thursday and surrendered at Kamal Aswan hospital in northern Gaza. This year on Hamas’s anniversary “rather than pictures of parades, we see pictures of terrorists surrendering,” IDF spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said. Yet, ten IDF troops, including two top commanders, were killed at Sejaiya Wednesday and on Thursday eight were critically injured there. The northern Gaza neighborhood has long been a Hamas stronghold, and war there has proved much tougher than first envisioned. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that built itself over a decade to fight Israel, and they built infrastructure under the ground and above the ground and it is not easy to destroy them,” Mr. Gallant said, with Mr. Sullivan by his side. “It will require a period of time, it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them.”Washington, meanwhile, is signaling that the timeline to end intensive war activities in Gaza may be narrowing. The longer you wait to present a plan for the “day after,” the faster international support would fade, Mr. Sullivan told the war cabinet during their meeting, according to Israeli press reports. Mr. Biden is urging Israel to accept a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority governing Gaza after the war. Prime Minister Netanyahu has pushed back against the idea of a “two state solution,” and on Thursday President Herzog, widely considered a moderate, joined him. “What I want to urge is against just saying two-state solution,” Mr. Herzog told the Associated Press. “Why? Because there is an emotional chapter here that must be dealt with. My nation is bereaving. My nation is in trauma.”Additionally, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, centrist politician Benny Gantz, indicated Thursday that the IDF would continue to maintain security in the Strip long after “the current phase” of the war ends.At that time, Mr. Gantz told reporters, Israel must present a vision for Gaza’s future, including a “local leadership, backed by regional moderate countries, with outer security oversight.” His reference to regional backing may have been discussed in a face-to-face meeting the minister conducted with Mr. Sullivan. The national security adviser’s Israel visit follows a trip to Riyadh, where he discussed the Gaza situation with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The White House is reportedly eager to revive talks about formalizing Saudi-Israeli ties. “Hamas is part of the Iranian axis that wants to destroy us and end the normalization process,” Mr. Gantz said.Washington is concerned that the longer the war lasts, the harder it would be to promote a peace treaty with the Saudis. Israelis counter that no such agreement would be possible if the IDF fails to obliterate Hamas. Earlier in the week President Biden told donors that while for now Israel enjoys global support, it is “starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing.” The national security council spokesman, John Kirby, walked that statement back later, saying that, heeding Washington’s advice, the IDF has employed such measures as telegraphing its next moves to alert civilians to leave combat areas.“There are very few modern militaries in the world that would do that,” Mr. Kirby said. “I don’t know that we would do that.” Yet, America’s insistence on such measures slows down the IDF progress in Gaza. And as Hamas’s terrorism expands to Europe, Israel is mostly concerned about how to eliminate it. Gaza’s future can wait.

Washington Eager for Gaza War Deadline, Post-War Plans, as Israel Insists on Victory First

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