Israel’s military weighs war options as Joe Biden heads to region

The Israeli military said it was considering other options apart from a ground offensive as it prepares for the next stages of the war against the Palestinian extremist organisation Hamas in the Gaza Strip. That came as mediators struggled to break a deadlock over delivering aid to millions of increasingly desperate civilians in the Hamas-run enclave, which has been besieged and under assault by Israel. Israel is looking destroy the military capabilities as well as the rule of Hamas after its fighters burst through Israel’s heavily fortified Gaza border on October 7, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. Israel has responded with withering air strikes on Gaza that have killed at least 2,778 people, two-thirds of them children, and wounded 9,700 others, according to Gaza’s health authorities. The Israeli military says it is targeting Hamas hideouts, infrastructure and command centres. A strike in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed a top Hamas commander, Ayman Nofal, the group’s military wing said Tuesday - the most high-profile militant known to have been killed so far in the war. Nofal was in charge of Hamas militant activities in the central Gaza Strip. The strikes have not stopped Hamas militants from continuing to barrage Israel with rockets launched from Gaza. Israel has massed troops at the border for an expected ground offensive, but Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht said no concrete decisions have been made. Biden will visit Israel as concerns mount that war could spread “We are preparing for the next stages of war. We haven’t said what they will be. Everybody’s talking about the ground offensive. It might be something different,” Hecht said on Tuesday without providing further details. Experts have warned of difficult fighting and potentially high losses on both sides in the event of a ground offensive in the densely populated Gaza Strip. Israel also faces a risky task of rescuing 199 hostages including young children who were taken by Hamas militants in their attack. As the Israeli military planned its next phase, US President Joe Biden was due to visit Israel Wednesday in a show of support. Washington is trying to prevent the escalating war against Hamas in Gaza from spilling over into a wider Middle East conflict. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, back in Israel after a whistle-stop regional tour, said Biden’s visit would be a statement of “solidarity with Israel” and an “ironclad commitment to its security”. Washington has already sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean “to deter hostile actions against Israel”. Israel’s arch foe Iran has repeatedly warned against a Gaza invasion and Monday raised the spectre of a possible “pre-emptive action” against Israel. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that “no one can stop resistance forces” if Israel keeps up its bombardment of Gaza. Deadly flare-ups have rocked Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant movement is based. Israel said on Tuesday it had again launched strikes on militants trying to cross and on “terrorist” targets. Hamas seeks release of Palestinians, calls non-Israeli hostages ‘guests’ While signalling support, Biden will also try to quietly steer Israeli’s military response, as international alarm has grown about the devastating impact of the war on Palestinian civilians. Entire neighbourhoods in Gaza have been razed and survivors are left with dwindling supplies of food, water and fuel. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says more than one million Palestinians – almost half of Gaza’s population of 2.4 million – have fled their homes. World Health Organization regional director Ahmed Al-Mandhari said that Gaza was barrelling towards “real catastrophe”. “There are 24 hours of water, electricity and fuel left,” he said. Israel has demanded that residents of north Gaza leave for the south, hoping to clear the area of civilians in preparation for a perilous ground assault that would involve gruelling urban combat. In the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza the normal population of 400,000 has roughly doubled. Egypt has so far kept closed Gaza’s only border crossing not controlled by Israel, Rafah. Israel has repeatedly struck the area on the Palestinian side and Monday denied reports of any temporary ceasefire deal to open it. Blinken, after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled there was no firm agreement yet on humanitarian relief, but that there was a “commitment” to work on a plan ahead of and during Biden’s visit. He also said the two sides were discussing the “possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way”. Blinken said the US president hopes to “hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas”. Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Associated Press

Israel’s military weighs war options as Joe Biden heads to region

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Israeli army spokesman says next phase of war against Hamas may be different from expectations US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday amid concerns the conflict could spread

Israeli army spokesman says next phase of war against Hamas may be different from expectations

US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday amid concerns the conflict could spread