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U.S.: Israel Can Fight as Long as Gaza Gets Aid
(Ha'aretz) Amos Harel - Earlier forecasts in Washington were that the Biden administration would demand that Israel end the high-intensity phase of the ground offensive against Hamas by the close of the year, and that the Americans would agree to only a further few weeks of fighting in the current format. In the meantime, the U.S. is on its Christmas-New Year vacation over the next 10 days and, if nothing exceptional happens during this time, the Americans won't ask Israel to stop. The deal between Biden and Netanyahu is that the president, who in any event morally endorses the Israeli response to the events of Oct. 7 and supports the elimination of Hamas, delays a ceasefire, in return for Israel allowing large quantities of humanitarian aid into Gaza. As long as aid gets into Gaza, and as long as fewer civilians are being killed, the U.S. is in less of a hurry when it comes to Israel moving toward a lower-intensity phase in the fighting. One week point in this agreement is that the humanitarian aid also helps Hamas. A large part of the aid brought into Gaza is plundered by Hamas; the fuel keeps the ventilation systems in Hamas' tunnels up and running, and the food aid increases the already large supplies that Hamas holds for its own people.