Israeli Government Willing to Cause ‘Mass Civilian Casualties’ among Palestinians – NYT

Israel carried out a new 'horrific massacre' in Jabaliya. (Photo: Via Social Media)

The Israeli government is willing to kill large numbers of Palestinian civilians to defeat Hamas in Gaza, and informed its US partners about it in “private conversations,” the New York Times has reported.

US President Joe Biden’s administration continues to support Israel but has reportedly become “more critical” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to Hamas, due to the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” according to a news analysis the American newspaper published on Monday.

“It became evident to US officials that Israeli leaders believed mass civilian casualties were an acceptable price in the military campaign,” the New York Times wrote, adding:

“In private conversations with American counterparts, Israeli officials referred to how the United States and other allied powers resorted to devastating bombings in Germany and Japan during World War II — including the dropping of the two atomic warheads in Hiroshima and Nagasaki — to try to defeat those countries.”

Focusing on Washington, the NYT article revealed how the Biden administration initially believed it could get support for Israel just as they had for Ukraine, given the nature of the Hamas attacks on October 7, but soon realized this would be “impossible.”

“If anything, countries around the world, especially developing nations, are moving the other way as the Palestinian death toll grows. Even European allies of the United States are divided on Israel’s war,” according to the outlet.

US officials also believe that Netanyahu has “no plans for what to do with Gaza” after Israel Defense Forces ground troops take “some or all of it.”

Last Wednesday, the Pentagon reportedly asked Israel to delay the ground attack, to give the US more time to deploy air defenses in Iraq and Syria and buy time for negotiations to free some of the estimated 200 prisoners held by Hamas.

The ground invasion began last Friday. As of Thursday, the Israeli army has admitted that 18 of its soldiers have been killed so far in the ongoing operations. However, the Palestinian Resistance said that the number is much higher.

Israel has, thus far, killed over 9,061 Palestinians in Gaza, including nearly 4,000 children, and wounded more than 32,000. Palestinian Ministry of Health reports and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

Despite a massive Israeli military buildup around the Gaza borders and sporadic infiltrations on the outskirts of the besieged Strip, Palestinian Resistance continues to repel Israeli attacks.

To justify its military failure, the Israeli army continues to pound civilian homes throughout the Gaza Strip with new massacres reported everywhere in the besieged enclave.

Gaza has been under a tight Israeli military siege since 2007, following a democratic election in occupied Palestine, the results of which were rejected by Tel Aviv and Washington. 

(PC, RT)

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