US and allies call on Israel to set clear objectives for ground invasion of Gaza

The United States and its allies have called on Israel to be strategic and clear about its objectives if and when it launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, warning against a prolonged occupation and placing an emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties, U.S. and U.S. officials said. from the West to CNN.

Still, in private discussions with their Israeli counterparts, Western defense officials have not attempted to dissuade Israel from advancing against Gaza with ground forces, the sources said.

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“Our advice to them is not ‘don’t do it,’ because we completely respect their right to go after Hamas and that means going after them wherever they are,” highlighted a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense minister. ), the Western military alliance, to CNN.

“So it’s not ‘don’t do this’, it’s ‘think about what will happen and have a strategy, not just a tactical maneuver’. We expect Israel to act within international humanitarian law, but we understand they are dealing with an enemy here,” she added.

US President Joe Biden expressed similar sentiments in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” last week.

While he said that “eliminating extremists is a necessary requirement” for Israel, “Hamas and Hamas extremists do not represent the entire Palestinian people. And I think it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again.”

On Wednesday (18), while in Tel Aviv, Biden also warned in public comments that wartime leadership “requires clarity about objectives and an honest assessment of whether the path you are taking will achieve those objectives.”

An Israeli official confirmed that these discussions with the United States and other allies are taking place.

A senior Israeli official stated this Friday (20) that “Israel is well aware of the humanitarian issues and is taking steps to resolve them in cooperation with the US government. It was Hamas who turned the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza into a human shield.”

Source: CNN Brasil

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