The Biden administration escalated its tricky balancing act Sunday as Israel prepared for an expanded clash with Hamas militants in Gaza, again insisting Israel has the right to avenge the deadly Oct. 7 terrorist rampage but also cautioning that Israeli forces must take extra steps to avoid civilian casualties in the densely populated enclave.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in separate interviews with CNN and ABC News, also criticized what he called a “totally unacceptable” increase in Jewish settler violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank, saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a personal responsibility to limit the violence there.
The U.S. government continues to strongly back Israel’s right to strike back at Hamas after a surprise assault that killed over 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals.
But the health officials of the Hamas-run government in Gaza say now that over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and incursions, and international demands for Mr. Netanyahu to hold back or moderate his response are growing.
Israeli military officials said Sunday they had struck over 450 Hamas targets in the previous 24 hours, including military command centers and missile launch sites.
Hamas fighters had reportedly been killed by Israeli ground forces as they tried to exit a tunnel near the Ereh crossing, Israeli officials said.
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Mr. Sullivan’s Sunday appearances reflect the dilemma Israel’s allies are facing, as well as the limits in U.S. ability to restrain the players in the region.
“Hamas, this brutal terrorist organization that conducted the attack, is hiding behind the civilian population, which puts an added burden on Israel to differentiate between the terrorists and innocent civilians,” Mr. Sullivan told the ABC News program “This Week.”
“But that doesn’t lessen [the Israelis’] responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws of war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population,” he added. “That’s equally true moving in on the ground as it is taking strikes from the air.”
Mr. Sullivan also described the deaths of the Palestinians caught in the Gaza crossfire an “absolute tragedy.”
“Those people did not deserve to die,” he said. “Those people deserved to live lives of peace and sanctity and dignity.”
Humanitarian groups expressed alarm Sunday after the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received warnings to evacuate the al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip, after sounds of shelling had been reported in the neighborhood earlier in the day.
Mr. Sullivan said President Biden would speak with Mr. Netanyahu later Sunday to discuss the crucial next steps in the war.
Mr. Biden’s top security aide also gave perhaps the clearest warning to date to Mr. Netanyahu’s nationalist government about Jewish settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
U.S. officials fear the violence could open a second front in the war away from Gaza and even make likelier an intervention by the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
“We expect over time to see the Israeli government step up on this,” Mr. Sullivan said. “We expect accountability for extremist settlers who engage in this kind of violence.”
Although they are a key part of his political base, Mr. Netanyahu “has a responsibility to rein in the settlers,” Mr. Sullivan said.
Mr. Netanyahu said over the weekend that the Israeli retaliation campaign against Hamas had entered its “second phase,” amid growing reports of IDF tank and infantry incursions against Hamas positions inside Gaza.
But it was not clear that the escalation amounted to a full-fledged ground war that likely would send military and civilian casualties soaring beyond the levels already seen.
In Gaza itself Sunday, United Nations officials told The Associated Press that thousands of people broke into aid warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products, as outside aid slowly trickled in following a near-total economic blockade.
Nearly three dozen trucks carrying water, medicine and food entered Gaza from Egypt, the AP said, and communications were restored to much of Gaza early Sunday after a bombardment described by residents as the most intense of the war knocked out most contact with the territory late Friday.
And in another offshoot of the war, Mr. Biden has officially notified Congress of the targeted airstrikes he ordered last week against Iran-allied militias in Iraq and Syria, and promised to “take further action” against any new attacks on U.S. bases and troops in the region.
The president laid out his rationale for the strikes in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, and Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Democrat and Senate president pro tempore.
The retaliatory airstrikes are widely seen as a warning to Tehran not to exploit the Israel-Hamas war or to seek to open up new military fronts against Israel.
Mr. Biden is constitutionally required to notify Congress of the use of military force under the War Powers Resolution.
• Alex Miller contributed to this article, which was based in part on wire service reports.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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