But he said he had not come to tell Israel what to do and called suggestions that the Biden administration is pressuring Israel to transition to a lower intensity form of warfare a “misunderstanding.”
“I’m here today on President Biden’s behalf to emphasize our continued commitment to support Israel in its fight against Hamas,” he told a news conference following his meetings.
His comments came a day after Biden administration officials told reporters they wanted Israel to scale back its military offensive within weeks to focus on more targeted operations aimed at Hamas. Days earlier, Biden had issued his toughest criticisms of Israel yet, warning that Israel was at risk of losing international support because of what he called the “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza.
But it was always intended that the war would take place in phases, transitioning eventually from high intensity bombing to rooting out Hamas leaders on the ground, Sullivan told a news conference. He said he couldn’t say how much longer it would take for the transition to take place, but agreed that the war would last several more months.
“There’s no contradiction between saying the fighting is going to take months and also saying that the different phases will take place at different times over those months including the transition from high intensity operations to more targeted operations,” he said.
“We’re not here to tell anybody you must do X, you must do Y,” he added. “We’re here to say this is our perspective as your partner, your friend.”
Sullivan indicated that he may have been more critical in his private conversations with Israeli officials, saying that it was important to keep the discussions behind closed doors to achieve “convergence.”
U.S. officials have repeatedly said they prefer to conduct any criticisms of Israel behind closed doors to retain leverage over the Israeli government. But Sullivan gave no indication that the United States is attempting to exert any pressure on Israel to curtail bombardments or shorten the war.
The Biden administration believes Israel is trying to minimize civilian casualties, he said, but he told Israeli officials the United States would like to “see the results match up to that.” At least 18,700 Palestinians have been killed since the war erupted on Oct. 7 in response to the Hamas assault that killed 1,200 Israelis.
But ultimately, he said, the blame lies with Hamas, for its role in the Oct. 7 attacks that triggered the war and for fighting among the civilian population, placing “an incredible burden” on Israeli military forces.
“What I think has been lost a little bit in this whole debate is the responsibility that sits with Hamas,” he said.
Sullivan later traveled to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, on the second day of a trip to the region that began in Saudi Arabia, where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss ways to create a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
His visit came amid continued heavy fighting in Gaza, where a prominent Al Jazeera reporter was among those injured in an airstrike. Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Arabic’s chief correspondent in Gaza, was hit by shrapnel in the shoulder during a drone strike on a school in the southern city of Khan Younis, his network said. His cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, was also injured.
Dahdouh hit headlines around the world in October when he was shown receiving the news live on air that his wife, son, daughter and grandson had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
