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Israel’s window of opportunity to launch a decisive ground assault on Hamas Palestinian militants seemed to narrow Monday with reports of growing impatience over the long-awaited offensive, while the Biden administration privately advised Israel that waiting a bit longer could result in the safe return of more hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza-based, Iran-backed militant group Hamas, which launched a surprise Oct. 7 assault on Israel that killed more than 1,400 civilians, seems to be using those hostages as leverage and as a tool to forestall the Israeli invasion. The Red Cross confirmed Monday that Hamas released two older Israeli hostages on humanitarian grounds, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper.
Their husbands are still in Hamas’ hands, along with some 220 others by Israel’s latest calculation. The two Israeli women join two American women, a mother and a daughter from Illinois, who were set free late last week.
The likelihood that some of the remaining prisoners could be killed — either via public execution, as Hamas has threatened, or inadvertently — during an Israeli ground attack on the Gaza Strip is by all accounts a leading factor driving Israel’s reluctance to launch the operation now, when memories of the horrific Oct. 7 attack are still fresh and before simmering global opposition boils over entirely.
Israeli ground troops and vehicles have been gathered along the Israel-Gaza border for weeks. Despite warnings from the U.S., the United Nations and others about the dangers of civilian casualties in the densely populated urban enclave, a full-scale incursion of Gaza is widely viewed as the only way to ensure Hamas as a military threat is eradicated.
SEE ALSO: In killing Israelis, Hamas may have also targeted Saudi diplomatic deal
In one bit of modestly hopeful news, the Israeli news channel I24, citing what it said were sources inside Gaza, said a bigger hostage deal may be in the works through the government of Qatar, which helped free the first two American hostages last week. The news channel said about 50 foreign nationals who hold dual Israeli citizenship swept up in the Hamas Oct. 7 raid could be released to the Red Cross imminently if the deal comes together.
Top Israel Defense Forces officials and others in the national security hierarchy have reportedly clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the delays in launching the operation. According to widespread reports in the U.S., the Biden administration is urging Israel behind the scenes to hold off as negotiations over the hostages continue, though it’s unclear exactly how much influence Washington has over Israel’s decision-making.
Mr. Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the IDF released a joint statement Monday trying to push back against reports of dissension at such a critical moment.
“The prime minister, defense minister and IDF chief are working together in close cooperation, around the clock, to bring Israel total victory over Hamas,” the statement said, according to Israeli media. “There is full trust between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the defense minister and IDF chief, who are united in a clear purpose. We ask the media to act responsibly and keep from publishing mendacious reports that only hurt our unity and strength.”
Israel pounded Gaza with more airstrikes Monday while its soldiers reportedly engaged in limited ground fighting with Hamas militants in the enclave. Another round of trucks carrying international humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza from Egypt. The badly needed food, medicine and water will go to the more than 1 million Palestinians estimated to have been displaced since the Israeli counterstrike began two weeks ago.
Global backlash against Israel, particularly in the Arab world, has mounted amid a rising death toll in Gaza and images flooding social media of injured civilians and physical destruction on the ground. The Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza, whose numbers can’t be verified by outside sources, said Monday that at least 5,087 Palestinians had been killed in this month’s fighting, including what officials said were 2,055 children. The ministry put the death toll in the previous 24 hours at 436.
SEE ALSO: Released hostage, 85-year-old woman, says she was beaten with sticks when kidnapped
A sense of urgency is growing in Israel to begin the ground invasion now and to crush Hamas while the pain and losses of the original Hamas rampage are still fresh in the world’s collective mind.
“Whether the driving force here is political fear or authentic guilt about ordering a significant number of young troops to their deaths, that concern cannot justify a further delay of the invasion. It merely delays the inevitable, lowers morale, and reduces the small window of time the world has allotted Israel to spend in Gaza toppling Hamas,” wrote Yonah Jeremy Bob, senior military correspondent for The Jerusalem Post.
“As Thomas Jefferson said, ‘The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.’ No one should rush into such a scenario, but Israel and the IDF are long past the point of rushing and have reached the stage of dwindling returns,” he wrote.
Publicly, Biden administration officials deny that they are pushing Israel one way or another.
“We’re not in the business of second-guessing what they’re doing,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
U.S. troops under fire
The U.S. increasingly has its own concerns in the Middle East. American troops are now routinely attacked by Iran-allied militias operating in Iraq and Syria.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters about an attempted drone strike Monday on the Al-Tanf base in Syria, where U.S. troops are stationed. Gen. Ryder said multiple drones were “taken down” by American defensive systems and that no U.S. troops were injured.
Over the past week, U.S. forces in the Middle East have come under fire on multiple occasions by Shiite militias with long-standing links to Iran. Iran-backed Houthi rebels late last week fired rockets and drones from Yemen that officials said were potentially aimed at Israel. American warships shot them down.
Biden administration officials made clear Monday that such attacks have increased in the weeks since the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel.
White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the Defense Department is bolstering U.S. forces in the region to deter further attacks and de-escalate the situation.
“We are deeply concerned about the potential for any significant escalation of these attacks,” Mr. Kirby said. “At the direction of President Biden, the secretary of defense has ordered the military to take steps to prepare for this to ensure that we are postured appropriately, both in terms of being able to defend our forces and respond decisively as needed.
“We know Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah and we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events, and in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good and for that of Iran,” Mr. Kirby said. “We know Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of deniability here, but we are not going to allow them to do that.”
The U.S. is surging military assets to the Middle East amid growing concerns that the Lebanese Shiite militant movement Hezbollah, or perhaps even Iran itself, could inject themselves into the war. Over the weekend, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group would head to the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon said last week that the strike group would sail to the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel to show solidarity with Jerusalem.
The Eisenhower will be the second U.S. carrier strike group in the Middle East. The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The addition of the Eisenhower, Mr. Austin said, will bolster American military capabilities in the theater.
In addition to the Eisenhower strike group, the Pentagon will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery to the region, along with Patriot missile defense battalions. The Pentagon also has put more troops on “prepare to deploy” orders ahead of a possible surge of U.S. personnel to the theater.
• Jeff Mordock contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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