Israel, US show sharp divisions over casualties
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and the United States on Tuesday showed their sharpest public disagreement yet over the conduct and future of the war against Hamas as the two allies became increasingly isolated by global calls for a cease-fire.
The dispute emerged while Israeli forces carried out strikes across Gaza, crushing Palestinians in homes.
President Joe Biden said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” and that Netanyahu should change his government, which is dominated by hard-right parties.
Biden’s comments came as the White House national security adviser heads to Israel this week to discuss with Netanyahu a timetable for the war — and what happens if Hamas is defeated. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Israel next week for a visit the Pentagon said aims to show US support for Israel but
also to press the need to avoid more civilian casualties in Gaza.
The war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel has already brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with much of northern Gaza obliterated, more than 18,000 Palestinians killed and over 80%
of the population of 2.3 million pushed from their homes.
The US has urged Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties since it launched its invasion of southern Gaza at the beginning of the month. But the toll has continued to mount at seemingly the same dizzying rate.
The health care system and humanitarian aid operations have collapsed in large parts of Gaza, and aid workers have warned of starvation and the spread of disease among displaced people in overcrowded shelters and tent camps.
Gaza City and much of the surrounding north have already suffered widespread destruction from more than two months of bombardment. Amid the rubble, Israeli ground troops are still locked in heavy combat with Palestinians fighters, more than six weeks after soldiers invaded the north.
Fierce clashes raged Tuesday in Gaza City’s Zaytoun and Shijaiya neighborhoods, as well as in Jabaliya, a densely built urban refugee camp, residents said.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians remain in the north, huddled in homes or in UN schoolsturned-shelters. As airstrikes and drones smash houses, first responders are unable to reach anyone buried in the wreckage, residents said.