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U.S. Tells Israel to Use Smaller Bombs Against Hamas

(New York Times) Adam Entous - U.S. officials have privately outlined several steps to Israel to reduce civilian casualties in its military campaign in Gaza, including using smaller bombs when going after Hamas leaders and infrastructure. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday Israel could put in place the American recommendations "while still achieving its objectives of finding and finishing Hamas terrorists." Israel has over the years built up stocks of larger bombs, intended to target hardened Hizbullah military positions in Lebanon. The U.S. is now trying to send more of the smaller bombs to Israel, said a senior U.S. military official. Arab leaders met with Blinken in Amman, Jordan, on Saturday, and demanded an immediate cease-fire. But Blinken publicly rebuffed the idea, saying, "It's our view that a cease-fire now would simply leave Hamas in place, and able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7." U.S. officials have been encouraging the Israelis to model their ground campaign against Hamas leaders on an approach employed by U.S. Special Operations forces against al-Qaeda in Iraq that targeted key leaders using small teams of commandos, combined with precision strikes from drones and manned aircraft. Israeli officials have said the situation in Gaza is very different. None of the special operations raids the Americans carried out in Iraq took place in urban areas as dense as Gaza City. Hamas leaders are hiding in a vast tunnel network and Israel believes sending commando units into those tunnels would be a suicide mission.
2023-11-05 00:00:00
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