Faced with the growing number of victims of Israel's offensive in southern Gaza, the US administration is trying to put pressure on its ally to minimize civilian casualties, but is not taking measures that could force it to comply, such as threatening to limit military aid.
Top US officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, have publicly called on Israel to act more precisely in the south to avoid the high civilian casualties caused by its attacks in the north.
For now, Washington is ruling out withholding weapons supplies or harshly criticizing Israel as a means of changing its tactics because the US believes the existing strategy of private negotiations is effective, two US officials told Reuters.
"We think what we're doing is working on them," a senior US official said, noting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first refused to allow aid into Gaza and then allowed nearly 200 trucks a day. He added that this progress is the result of intense diplomacy, not threats.
The official said cutting military support to Israel would carry major risks.
"You start reducing aid to Israel, you start encouraging other parties to enter the conflict, you weaken the deterrent effect and embolden other enemies of Israel," he said.
Israel receives $3,8 billion a year in military aid from the US, from fighter jets to powerful bombs that could destroy Hamas tunnels
The Israeli government seems unmoved by international demands to change its strategy.
"I don't think the prime minister feels any pressure and we will do whatever it takes to achieve our military goals," Ofir Falk, Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, told Reuters last week when asked about international pressure on Israel.
Israel receives $3,8 billion a year in military aid from the US, from fighter jets to powerful bombs that could destroy Hamas tunnels, and the Joe Biden administration has asked Congress to approve an additional $14 billion.
Such support gives Washington "significant leverage" over how to wage the war against Hamas, said Seth Binder of the Project for Middle East Democracy.
"Withholding certain types of equipment or delaying the replenishment of various weapons would force the Israeli government to adjust strategies and tactics," Binder said. "Until today, the administration has not shown willingness to use that influence.
Reuters reports that Biden is under pressure for the 2024 presidential election and that any attempt to cut aid could undermine the Democratic president's support among pro-Israel independent voters.
The current president is also under pressure from a faction of progressive Democrats who want the US to set terms for military aid to its closest Middle Eastern ally, and for Biden to support calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Visa ban due to West Bank violence
The United States on Tuesday began imposing visa bans on people involved in violence in the occupied West Bank after several calls for Israel to do more to prevent violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians that has increased since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza two months ago.
Since the 1967 Middle East War, Israel has occupied the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. Israel has built Jewish settlements there that most countries consider illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the territory.
The European Union should follow the example of the USA and impose sanctions on some Israeli settlers for attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, a high-ranking official of the Social Democrats (SPD) of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said yesterday.
"It would be good if the EU joined the US sanctions against violent settlers," Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman for the SPD caucus, told Reuters.
A spokesman for the German foreign ministry said at a regular press conference that sanctions against Israeli settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians should be discussed further at the EU level.
"We welcome the fact that the US is as clear on its position as we are and that it will now take concrete measures in the form of entry restrictions," the spokesman said.
He added that violence perpetrated by settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank has reached "such alarming proportions" in recent weeks that many families have fled their homes in fear. "It is completely unacceptable."
Bonus video:
