US tells Israel any ground campaign in southern Gaza must limit further civilian displacement

The Biden administration has told Israel that it must work to avoid “significant further displacement” of Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza if it renews its ground campaign aimed at eradicating the Hamas militant group, senior US officials said on Tuesday.

Separately, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Israelis have been receptive when US officials have raised the issue.

The Democratic administration, seeking to avoid more large-scale civilian casualties or mass displacement like that seen before the current temporary pause in the fighting, underscored to the Israelis that they must operate with far greater precision in southern Gaza than they did in the north, said officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

Amid mounting international and domestic pressure about the rising Palestinian death toll, the White House has begun to put greater pressure on Israel that the manner of the coming campaign must be “carefully thought through”, according to one of the officials.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters escorting hostages on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Kirby, told reporters separately: “Now you have an added population of hundreds of thousands more in the south that you didn’t have before (the Israelis) moved into Gaza City”.

“And so it’s even all that more of an added burden on Israel to make sure that as they start to plan for operations in the south, whatever that looks like, that they have properly accounted for … the extra innocent life that is now in south Gaza.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that Israeli Defence Forces will eventually restart military operations after the conclusion of the current, temporary ceasefire that has allowed for an exchange of hostages taken by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

“We agreed that women and children as well as the foreign hostages would be released first,” Netanyahu told German broadcaster Welt TV in an interview published on Tuesday.

“After that has happened, we will continue the fighting.”

The two sides agreed on Monday to extend their four-day truce for an additional two days to continue swapping hostages and prisoners.

That provision saw 12 hostages freed on Tuesday, bringing the total released since the truce began on Friday to 81. Those have been mostly Israeli women and children along with foreign citizens.

A short time later, Israel released 30 Palestinians from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank and a Jerusalem detention centre. That brought the total number of Palestinians released under the truce to 180.

The hostages were among some 240 people seized by Hamas gunmen during a rampage into southern Israel on October 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed. Israel’s bombardment of Hamas-ruled Gaza in retaliation has killed about 15,000 Gazans, health authorities there said.

About 159 hostages remain in Gaza. The White House said on Tuesday this includes eight to nine Americans. Kirby said the US was hopeful Hamas would release more Americans, and the US government would work with Qatar to extend the pause in fighting.

Qatar, which mediated indirect talks between Hamas and Israel that resulted in the ceasefire, on Tuesday hosted the spy chiefs from Israel’s Mossad and the United States’ CIA.

The officials discussed possible parameters of a new phase of the truce deal including Hamas releasing hostages who are men or military personnel, not just women and children, a source briefed on the matter said. They also considered what might be needed to reach a ceasefire lasting more than a handful of days.

Qatar spoke to Hamas before the meeting to get a sense of what the group might agree to. The Israelis and Hamas are now internally discussing the ideas explored at the meeting, the source added.

Separately, foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations on Tuesday called in a joint statement for an extension of the ceasefire and more humanitarian aid.

The truce has brought Gaza its first respite after seven weeks of fighting and bombardment that has reduced much of the seaside enclave to rubble.

Vehicles transporting humanitarian aid wait at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Photo: Maxar Technologies

Israel’s siege has led to the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, especially in the north where no hospitals remain functioning. The World Health Organization said more Gazans could soon be dying of disease than from bombing and many had no access to medicines, vaccines, safe water and hygiene and no food.

More than two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have lost their homes to Israeli bombardments, with thousands of families sleeping rough in makeshift shelters with only the belongings they could carry. They are desperately short of food, fuel and clean water.

“We have a dramatic humanitarian situation. At the same time, we want to have the full release of all hostages, that we believe should be unconditional and immediate. But we need a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza now,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Tuesday.

The temporary ceasefire has allowed about 800 aid trucks to enter Gaza, and the first of three US planes with humanitarian supplies for Gaza landed in Egypt on Tuesday.

The truce in Gaza has not ended violence in the occupied West Bank, where two Palestinian teenagers were killed in clashes with Israeli troops on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Since the October 7 attacks, more than 230 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the ministry.

Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and dpa