Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, October 20: Russia-Ukraine War may just get another parallel rolling, as US President Joe Biden has sought a whopping $100 billion for emergency national security package while Israel has officially stated that the country is in the midst of a three-stage offensive against the Hamas in Gaza.
Russia-Ukraine War is now trailing the prospects of the decade long Iraq-Iran battle. In an early sign that the US is bracing for a long Israeli war in Gaza, Biden has sought a package of $14.3 billion for Israel while another $10 billion for humanitarian aids to cover several geographies, including Palestine.
As part of the three-stage war, revealed in a parliamentary briefing by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel aims to establish a new security system wherein there will be a buffer between Gaza and Israel, as well as Tel Aviv gets hands off in managing things in the strip.
Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported Gallant telling the foreign affairs committee of the Israeli parliament that “we are in the first phase, where a military campaign is conducted with fire and then a maneuver to destroy activists and infrastructure in order to defeat Hamas”.
The third step as part of the war against Hamas, according to Gallant, will be establishing a new security system and removing Israel’s responsibility for daily life in the Gaza Strip. Suggesting that the US and Israel have hammered out the war plan in details, Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin posted on X: “I spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Gallant yesterday to provide an update of U.S. security assistance, discuss the latest operational and humanitarian situation in Gaza, and to reiterate the ironclad commitment of the U.S. to supporting the defense of U.S. partners”.
With the Israeli bombardment in Gaza entering the fourth day after the Hamas attacked parts of Israel on October 7, the US-led western block appears to have prevailed upon Israel to allow the passage of the humanitarian aid through the Rafa border, which is seen as a concession to the Arab World to gain their sanction for the Israeli offensive against the Hamas.
“More than 1,300 people have been slaughtered in Israel, including at least 32 American citizens. Scores of innocents, from infants to elderly grandparents, Israelis, Americans have been taken hostage,” Biden in his second Oval Office presidential address said on Friday.
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