HATIM KAGHAT
- The US, Israel's most stalwart ally, is no longer OK with the brutality of the conflict.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin heads to the region this week to convince Israel to dial it back.
- Germany and France, too, are changing their tune.
US President Joe Biden is not the surprising type.
So it was extra surprising when he told a group of potential donors last week that Israel was "indiscriminately bombing" Gaza and losing support for the war as a result.
Among those whose support Israel is losing is the United States itself. Biden was instrumental in the brief pause in hostilities last month, and now he is sending Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to the region this week to pressure Israel to scale back the intensity of its invasion.
Israel began its campaign after Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people. They also took some 240 hostages, according to Israel.
More than 18,000 Palestinians have so far been killed in Israel's now monthslong counterattack, according to the Gaza health ministry. The vast majority of those deaths have been civilians. Israel's air campaign, meanwhile, has leveled nearly 20% of the buildings in Gaza, according to the United Nations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goal of the campaign is to eradicate Hamas entirely, which could take many months.
But time may be running out for Netanyahu. Both demands for his resignation, as well as a cease-fire, continue to grow in intensity.
Calls for Israel to do more to limit the widespread destruction and civilian death toll grew loud last week after a US intelligence assessment found that at least 40% of the bombs Israel has dropped on Gaza were so-called "dumb bombs," which don't have internal guidance systems or kits to improve their aim and have the potential to cause significant devastation beyond the intended target area, Business Insider previously reported.
Reacting to that assessment, Sen. Chris Van Hollen told ABC on Sunday that the United States has been seeing "very loose rules of engagement" during Israel's campaign.
"Way looser than anything the United States would exercise. We would not drop a 2,000-pound bomb on a refugee camp to target a Hamas commander," he said on This Week.
It's not only the United States that's becoming uncomfortable with the scale of Israel's attacks. Other stalwart allies have, too. On Saturday, the foreign ministers for both France and Germany published an op-ed in the Times of London calling for a sustained cease-fire.
"Our goal cannot simply be an end to fighting today. It must be peace lasting for days, years, generations. We therefore support a cease-fire, but only if it is sustainable," they wrote.