The Biden administration confirmed on Monday that Israel killed a top Hamas official during its ongoing war against the terrorist organization.
The Biden administration’s national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, spoke to reporters Monday and said in his opening remarks that Israel killed senior Hamas commanders, including its number three in charge, Marwan Issa. Issa was the deputy commander of the military wing of Hamas, and the man thought responsible for the October 7 terror attacks in southern Israel.
“Israel has made significant progress against Hamas. They’ve broken a significant number of Hamas battalions and killed thousands of Hamas fighters, including senior commanders. Hamas’s number three, Marwan Issa, was killed in an Israeli operation last week. The rest of the top leaders are in hiding, likely deep in the Hamas tunnel network, and justice will come for them too,” Sullivan stated.
He laid out the Biden administration’s humanitarian concerns and the subject matter President Biden discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The pair spoke about Israel’s plans to launch a major military campaign in Rafah, a city on the southeast portion of Gaza bordering Egypt.
“The president told the prime minister again today that we share the goal of defeating Hamas. But we just believe you need a coherent and sustainable strategy to make that happen,” Sullivan said. He called upon Israel to focus on “stabilizing” the areas of Gaza where the bulk of the fighting has taken place in order to prevent Hamas from reviving itself.
The Biden administration is worried about the civilians who have arrived in Rafah from other parts of the Gaza territory. Sullivan accused Israel of not having a plan for those civilians or humanitarian assistance once the military campaign commences.
“Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else. But a major ground operation there would be a mistake. It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally,” Sullivan stated.
Netanyahu agreed to send a team of military, intelligence, and humanitarian officials to Washington, D.C., to listen to U.S. concerns over the plan for an invasion of Rafah, Sullivan said. Biden and Netanyahu also talked about ongoing negotiations for a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages currently being held captive by Hamas. Sullivan said Hamas could end the war if the terrorist organization wanted to and called for more pressure to be applied to Hamas to do so.
Left-wing activists who militantly support Palestine and Democratic Party leaders have largely focused their ire on Israel’s conduct during the war. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., called for Israel to hold new elections to replace Netanyahu, a democratically elected wartime leader.