Biden administration pushes Israel to scale back its ground and air offensive in Gaza

The Biden administration wants Israel to find a point to scale back its ground and air offensive campaign in Gaza and move to more surgical military operations targeting Hamas militants, however, the nation has not yet demanded any deadline in the shift, says U.S. officials.

Discussions about the next phase of war come after Prime Minister Joe Biden publicly warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel has started losing onto international support in its war against Hamas due to its “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, during the meetings in Israel discussed a “shift in emphasis” with Netanyahu, members of his cabinet and other top Israeli officials.

“He did not talk about possible transitioning from what we would call high-intensity operations, which is what we’re seeing them to do now, to lower-intensity operations, which is what we’re seeing them to do now, to lower-intensity operations sometime in the near future,” said John Kirby, the national Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications.