US Official: Israel Can't Reoccupy Gaza, War May Continue in 'Another Phase' for Months

Facts

• White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan continued his diplomatic tour on Friday, meeting with Palestinian Pres. Mahmoud Abbas a day after meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. He said the US and Israel were having 'intensive discussions' regarding Israel's war goals and its conduct, namely high civilian casualties across Gaza; he confirmed that the war could potentially continue for months but clarified that the US wants Israel to shift its strategy to 'more precise ways on targeting the leadership,' focusing on 'intelligence driven operations.'¹
• During Sullivan's meeting with Abbas in Ramallah, the two discussed ending the war in Gaza and the US' goals for the strip's post-war leadership. Netanyahu has continually said that Israel will not allow the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs the West Bank and is led by Abbas, to return to Gaza and that Israel would maintain security control over the strip.; Sullivan said it would neither make 'sense' nor be “right” for Israel to reoccupy Gaza.²
• Sullivan did say, however, that the PA would have to undergo significant changes to be able to govern Gaza, suggesting that the PA should 'be revamped and revitalized, needs to be updated in terms of its method of governance, its representation of Palestinian people.'³
• Meanwhile, on the ground, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that it mistakenly shot and killed three hostages whom it mistook as a threat in battle; the IDF has disseminated 'lessons learned' to its troops from the incident. Fighting continues to rage in Gaza's urban centers, with dozens being rushed to hospitals in Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah, and communications in the strip have been intermittent since Thursday.⁴
• An Israeli drone strike in Khan Younis on Friday wounded two Al Jazeera journalists, Wael al-Dahdouh and Samer Abudaqa. Dahdouh has become particularly well-known to viewers across the Middle East after learning live on-air that his wife, son, daughter, and grandson were killed in an Israeli air strike in the first month of the war.⁵
• Gaza's health ministry reports that the conflict has left nearly 19K people in the Gaza Strip dead, many of whom it claims are children. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1.2K people and there are still over 100 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.²

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²BBC News, ³The times of israel, ⁴Guardian and ⁵Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by Jerusalem post. Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. Hamas seized upon the temporary pause to mark Israeli positions and prepare itself for continued attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza. Indeed, the pace at which Israeli forces maneuvered in Gaza threw Hamas's military leadership off-kilter, and Israel will have to work intelligently in its campaign in the south of the strip to fully eliminate the terrorist group so it can never launch an attack like Oct. 7 again.
• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle east eye. Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip unlivable. Unfortunately, the temporary ceasefire only gave civilians a few days of relative rest, and now Israel has returned to killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate. The US, Israel's biggest ally, must exert more pressure to end the war.

Predictions