In Khan Younis, the high-intensity warfare is expected to last another three or four weeks according to Axios, which cited a senior Israeli defense official.
Despite the pressure, the Biden administration is not “pulling the brakes” on the Israeli occupation’s operation across the Gaza Strip with the alleged goal of eliminating Hamas.
The Israeli official told Axios that the Israeli Occupation Forces “have made significant progress” in northern Gaza, but that the operation in the southern city of Khan Younis “has just started.”
Significantly, the US has also allegedly not given “Israel” a firm deadline to stop the operation, said the Israeli official, while White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer corroborated that information when he told the Aspen Security Forum in Washington, earlier last week, that “This is their conflict. That said, we do have influence, even if we don’t have ultimate control over what happens on the ground in Gaza.”
According to the Israeli official, “Israel” is aiming to end the operation by the end of January, however, the US would be satisfied if said operation could be concluded by the end of December.
In other words, said the Israeli official, “The US message is that they would want us to finish faster, with less civilian casualties and more humanitarian aid to Gaza,” adding “We want the same thing, but there is another player here and this is the enemy that doesn’t agree.”
“The US understands this. We are working together. We need them and they need us,” said the Israeli official.
This is discussed as the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Resistance movement, said there were casualties among Israeli soldiers who had sheltered themselves in a civilian building after they attacked their positions with TBG rockets.
The al-Qassam said its fighters were engaging in numerous confrontations west of the Jabalia refugee camp.
The al-Aqsa Brigades said their fighters attacked an Israeli armored vehicle in the western Jabalia direction, which killed and wounded all the soldiers aboard.
The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said their fighters engaged in fierce urban combat with the invading enemy forces, with two Israeli tanks being partially or completely destroyed west of Jabalia after they were attacked with the tandem RPGs.