By Pishtaz | 2023-12-28

Top US officials are pushing Israel to do more to prevent the deaths of Palestinian civilians and to make its war against Hamas more "precise."

The warnings have multiplied in recent weeks as the death toll has continued to rise and a gap has emerged between Israel's commitments to respect civilian lives and the reality on the ground.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in remarks on December 2 reiterated "that America's commitment to Israel's security is ironclad."

However, he added, "we will continue to press Israel to protect civilians and to ensure the robust flow of humanitarian aid."

"If you drive [civilians] into the arms of the enemy," Austin warned, "you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat."

"You can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians," he said.

"I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative," Austin said.

"I have personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, and to shun irresponsible rhetoric, and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank, and to dramatically expand access to humanitarian aid," he added.

Noting Israel's right to defend itself, US Vice President Kamala Harris also pressured the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to limit civilian casualties.

"Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," she said in remarks earlier December 2 at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

US President Joe Biden recently sent his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to meet with the Israeli War Cabinet to emphasize the US government's "commitment to Israel as well as the need to protect civilian life and ensure more humanitarian assistance flows and reaches into Gaza for Palestinian civilians."

"The safety of innocent Palestinians is still of great concern," Biden said at a news conference December 13.

When asked if he wants Israel to scale back its military assault on Gaza, Biden said, "I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives -- not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful."

Sullivan said he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about shifting from high-intensity military operations to a phase that is "more precise, more targeted," he said in an interview with Israel's Channel 12 television.

Israel taking steps

In the first weeks of the war, US officials outlined several measures the IDF should take to reduce civilian casualties, The New York Times reported in early November.

Israel can reduce civilian casualties by improving how they target Hamas leaders, gathering more intelligence on Hamas command and control networks, using smaller bombs to collapse Hamas tunnels, and using ground forces to separate civilian population centers from where the terrorists are concentrated, they said.

Since then, the US administration has pressed its ally to unblock humanitarian aid for people in Gaza, work to free hostages kidnapped by Hamas on the day of the attack, and adopt a more targeted military strategy.

Despite the increasing international criticism Israel has received for the high civilian death toll, the IDF has taken a number of steps to mitigate civilian casualties amid the ongoing war with Hamas, analysts say.

The IDF repeatedly has urged Palestinians to flee to safer areas since before ground fighting began and has provided civilians with information on safe zones to facilitate evacuations and enable humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Israel has identified dozens of shelters in Gaza where civilians would be safe from IDF strikes.

The IDF has since distributed maps on Arabic-language media outlets and social media platforms to inform citizens about where Israeli forces are operating.

The United States has said the maps are an improvement on Israel's part to protect civilians, but more needs to be done as many Gazans have trouble accessing communications networks and electricity is scarce.

"In previous engagements, the IDF warned civilians of upcoming airstrikes by dropping leaflets, making telephone calls or dropping roof-knocking bombs -- non-lethal bombs dropped on the roofs of buildings to warn residents that an airstrike on the building is imminent," according to a December 8 report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington-based research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Israeli forces have been dropping leaflets over Gaza ever since their ground invasion began in late October.

"The maps work," said Joe Truzman, a research analyst at the FDD's Long War Journal.

"Palestinians are adhering to the IDF's guidance to vacate areas deemed to be potential danger zones," he said. "Consequently, this represents a setback for Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups who exploit the Gaza populace as human shields in an effort to safeguard their resources against Israeli attacks."

Human shields

Using civilians as human shields is a long-running strategy for Hamas, as evidenced by its construction of tunnels and command centers for its fighters under hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.

Hamas fires rockets, artillery and mortars from or near heavily populated areas, according to a report by the Latvia-based NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence.

The group uses civilians for intelligence gathering operations, and battles the IDF from residential or commercial areas, the report added.

When asked why Hamas constructed 500km of tunnels underground but no bomb shelters for civilians, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk said the tunnels are "meant to protect us" -- Hamas -- from Israeli aircraft and facilitate attacks on Israeli targets.

"By putting civilians in or above its military positions, Hamas knows it cannot lose," Natalie Ecanow, a research analyst at FDD, wrote November 1.

"Either it will prevent Israel from attacking, since the Israeli military tries to minimize harm to civilians, or if Israel does attack, the use of human shields will ensure high civilian casualties," she said.

"For Hamas, the deaths of civilians is a strategy," Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said December 18.

"For us, it's a tragedy."

Gaza, a narrow territory of 2.4 million people, has "civilians, residents and terrorists in crowded areas," the air force officer said.

"We need to be, on the one hand, very strong, use a lot of ammunitions, [and] on the other hand use them precisely."