![]() Jason Crow of Colorado, who signed the letter, told NBC News’ Garrett Haake. And one of the most important lessons we learned during that period is that military power has limitations,” Democratic Rep. ![]() ![]() “Most of us spent years of our lives fighting in the U.S. leverage at his disposal to persuade Israel to change course in its offensive. Six Democrats who served in the military and in the CIA wrote a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday, urging him to use all U.S. The extremist groups, fueled by ideology and feeding off of power vacuums, could replace their commanders, adapt and survive.Ī growing number of Democrats in Congress, including military veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, have cited that experience and questioned Israel’s tactics, arguing that heavy bombardment and steep civilian casualties are counterproductive methods that threaten to provide more fuel to extremists. operations against terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda or ISIS over the past two decades, American commanders eventually recognized that battlefield successes - including killing senior figures - produced only temporary benefits. But it is a big, well-oiled, organized military machine that they’re up against, and so they believe that they still have more work to do.” “They are making progress against the leaders. “They’ve eliminated quite a bunch of Hamas leadership at various levels,” the official said. But the militants later regrouped and rearmed in each case.Ī senior Biden administration official said the Israeli offensive has been successful in removing Hamas commanders and midlevel commanders. Past Israeli assaults in Gaza over the years, including an Israeli ground invasion in 2014, have killed Hamas leaders and seized weaponry. If Israeli forces do not manage to kill or capture the top Hamas leaders, the Israeli public almost certainly will view the outcome as a failure. “The IDF will tell you that they think they need several more months of large-scale combat operations to fully destroy Hamas’ military capabilities.” think tank, who recently returned from a trip to the region. “The real question is whether they are making military progress fast enough before the political clock runs out,” said Raphael Cohen, a senior political scientist at the Rand Corp. IDF officers say they need to keep up the ground offensive for several months to fulfill their goals but time may be running out.īiden administration officials, under criticism abroad and at home to persuade Israel to safeguard civilian lives in Gaza, have been pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to scale back the current operation to a more calibrated, limited effort. They also say that Israel has come under criticism for its tactics in the past even when previous operations were more limited. 7 attacks, and that Hamas’ vast tunnel network required a major offensive to dismantle. They also argue Israel should combine its military effort with a major diplomatic push for political dialogue with Palestinian representatives in the West Bank and with Arab governments in the region.īut Israeli officials and supporters of Israel say the country had no alternative to a large-scale combat operation to shore up Israel’s security in the aftermath of the Oct. military officers argue Israel should pull back from heavy bombing and a full-blown ground invasion and instead carry out more calibrated raids with fewer troops on the ground targeting Hamas leaders, weapons caches and tunnels. “Every bit of progress they make towards their strategic goal increasingly damages their reputation internationally and makes it harder for their allies and supporters to continue to support them,” said Nagata, who helped lead the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group's militants in Syria and Iraq.ĭemocrats in Congress and some former U.S. Since the Israel offensive began, Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel have dramatically declined - a sign that the group’s operations have been disrupted, experts say.īut Israel now finds itself caught in a bind between contradictory objectives: The more military success it achieves in its war with Hamas, the higher the Palestinian civilian death toll and the more Israel risks losing support from its most important ally, the United States. ![]() The IDF says 134 of its troops have been killed in the Gaza offensive, including nine who died in a Hamas ambush last week. The IDF has poured troops and resources into the offensive, with four divisions now operating in the Gaza Strip, including paratroopers from the 98th division leading an assault in Khan Younis in the enclave’s south, where Hamas leaders are believed to be based.ĭeeper into the offensive, Israeli casualties have ticked up in the close quarters combat. ![]()
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