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US-Israel Dispute Over Timing of Gaza Ground Invasion

US President Joe Biden, AP
US President Joe Biden, AP
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US-Israel Dispute Over Timing of Gaza Ground Invasion

US President Joe Biden, AP
US President Joe Biden, AP

American officials in President Joe Biden’s administration are engaged in intense discussions with their Israeli counterparts about plans for a ground war in Gaza, according to several US-based sources.

These discussions are taking place amid differences of opinion and US pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to postpone the invasion, creating room for negotiations regarding the release of more hostages held by Hamas.

Four top Israeli defense officials have indicated that the ground invasion has been postponed multiple times.

There are leaks suggesting that negotiations are currently underway for the release of 50 hostages from several countries, including Israeli citizens.

As a result, the US and its Western allies, especially the UK and France, are exerting pressure to delay the invasion because initiating it could impede the chances of securing the release of these individuals.

Moreover, concerns are mounting within the Biden administration about Israel’s commitment to international laws of war and its ability to avoid further civilian casualties.

Particularly worrisome is the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s support for a broad military operation encompassing Hezbollah in the north and Gaza in the south, a stance contrary to Netanyahu’s.

Simultaneously, there are increasing international calls for additional aid trucks to be sent to Gaza to aid civilians.

Israeli airstrikes in densely populated areas pose a significant challenge to Israel’s plans for a ground assault.

Ministers in the Israeli Security Cabinet support an expedited ground invasion, citing the insufficiency of airstrikes in pursuing Hamas.

The US administration seeks to achieve three primary objectives by exerting pressure on Israel to postpone a ground invasion in Gaza.

First, it aims to create space for negotiations for the release of additional hostages held by Hamas. US families are urging the Biden administration to make efforts to ensure their release before any ground invasion, considering the potential for a protracted and politically far-reaching bloody conflict.

Second, the US administration intends to establish clear boundaries regarding the scope and execution of any ground invasion to minimize civilian casualties.

Furthermore, Washington emphasized the importance of ensuring the delivery of more food, water, and medicine to Palestinian civilians. This commitment was affirmed in a Sunday evening conversation between Biden and Netanyahu.

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7 Killed by Russian Attacks as Moscow Pushes Ahead in Ukraine's East

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
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7 Killed by Russian Attacks as Moscow Pushes Ahead in Ukraine's East

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV

Russian shelling in the town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday killed five people, as Moscow’s troops pushed ahead in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The attack struck a high-rise building and a private home, said regional Gov. Vadym Filaskhin, who said the victims were men aged 24 to 38. He urged the last remaining residents to leave the front-line town, which had a pre-war population of 12,000.
“Normal life has been impossible in Chasiv Yar for more than two years,” Filaskhin wrote on social media. “Do not become a Russian target — evacuate.” A further two people were killed by Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region. One victim was pulled from the rubble of a house in the village of Cherkaska Lozova, said Gov. Oleh Syniehubov, while a second woman died of her wounds while being transported to a hospital.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it captured the town of Pivnichne, also in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.
Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area.
At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces into Russia’s Kursk region in recent weeks in the largest incursion onto Russian soil since World War II. The move is partly an effort to force Russia to draw troops away from the Donetsk front.
Elsewhere, the number of wounded following a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday continued to rise.
Six people were killed, including a 14-year-old girl, when glide bombs struck five locations across the city, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. Writing on social media Saturday, he said that the number of injured had risen from 47 to 96.
Syniehubov also confirmed that the 12-story apartment block that was hit by one bomb strike, setting the building ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor, would be partly demolished.
Ukrainian officials have previously pointed to the Kharkiv strikes as further evidence that Western partners should scrap restrictions on what the Ukrainian military can target with donated weapons.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that Kyiv had presented Washington with a list of potential long-range targets within Russia for its approval. “I hope we were heard,” he said.
He also denied speculation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ’s decision to dismiss the commander of the country’s air force Friday was directly linked to the destruction of an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners four days earlier.
The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was published on the presidential website minutes before an address which saw Zelenskyy stress the need to “take care of all our soldiers.”
“This is two separate issues,” said Umerov. “At this stage, I would not connect them.”
The number of injured also continued to rise in the Russian border region of Belgorod, where five people were killed Friday by Ukrainian shelling, said Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. He said Sunday that 46 people had been injured, of whom 37 were in the hospital, including seven children. Writing on social media, Gladkov also said that two others had been injured in Ukrainian shelling across the region.