Israel’s defense minister stated on Thursday that the conflict with Hamas “will continue for more than a few months,” showing the determination to continue the bombing of Gaza even as the White House national security adviser arrived in Tel Aviv to discuss a timeline for ending the fighting.
Prior to meeting with the U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reiterated Israel’s arguments that destroying Hamas, the group responsible for the devastating October 7 attacks in Israel, was crucial for Israel’s security and challenging due to Hamas’s extensive underground infrastructure in Gaza.
“It will require a long period of time — it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them,” Mr. Gallant said briefly before meeting with Mr. Sullivan.
The remarks suggested that Israel’s government was unlikely to be influenced by international condemnation of the high civilian casualties in Gaza. Mr. Sullivan had previously stated that one of the topics for discussion with Israeli officials would be “how they are seeing the timetable of this war.”
The gap between the United States and Israel has widened over Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas and a postwar settlement for the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, President Biden made some of his most direct criticism yet of Mr. Netanyahu’s government, stating that it had no interest in allowing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. However, the White House seemed to downplay Mr. Biden’s comments on Wednesday, with spokesman John F. Kirby stating that the president was only expressing concern about rising civilian casualties in the war.
Top Israeli officials were unperturbed by Mr. Biden’s remarks, insisting that they would not be deterred from continuing the military offensive in Gaza until Hamas’s armed wing is destroyed and its leaders are killed. “We are continuing to the end,” Mr. Netanyahu wrote on social media. “It is not even a question.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s government and the Biden administration have mostly sought to minimize their differences since Hamas killed at least 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7. Israel has responded with more than two months of bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza that have killed at least 15,000 people, and likely thousands more, according to Gazan health officials, and forced most of the territory’s 2.2 million people to flee their homes.
Amid an international outcry over the toll on Gazans, Mr. Biden has said Israel must do more to protect civilians, but he has been unwavering in supporting its right to respond to the October 7 attack.
The United States and Israel have also differed over who should control Gaza after the war. American officials have said the Palestinian Authority, which has international support, should control the enclave, while Mr. Netanyahu has appeared to rule that out for now.