US president Joe Biden promised Binyamin Netanyahu “new defensive US military deployments” as Israel faces fresh threats to avenge assassinations of Hamas and Hizbullah leaders, but he also pressed the Israeli leader to move forward with cease-fire efforts.
Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis,” the White House said in a readout of a call late on Thursday. “The president discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive U.S. military deployments.”
No further details were immediately offered.
Tempering the talk of military strength, the president “stressed the importance of ongoing efforts to de-escalate broader tensions in the region,’ according to the summary of the call, which was joined by vice-president Kamala Harris.
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Netanyahu said earlier Thursday that his country “is in a very high level of preparedness” for efforts to avenge the two assassinations in one night of leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah.
“We will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena,” Netanyahu said. He spoke after Iran’s supreme leader led prayers over the coffin of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political chief killed in Tehran this week.
Biden told reporters that the assassinations have “not helped” the chances of a cease-fire and said he remains “very concerned” about the volatile situation in the Middle East.
“I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister, very direct,” Biden said. “We have the basis for a ceasefire. He should move on it and they should move on it now.”
Before Biden spoke, Iranian state TV showed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading the start of a funeral procession before Haniyeh’s coffin was driven into the city center through crowds waving Palestinian flags. Iran and Hamas say Haniyeh was killed by Israel. Netanyahu’s government hasn’t denied that charge and has vowed to kill all Hamas leaders following the group’s attack on the country on October 7th.
In Beirut, a similar procession was held for a high-ranking member of Hizbullah, Fuad Shukr, who was killed in the Lebanese capital by an Israeli missile Tuesday, just hours before Haniyeh’s death. Israel took responsibility for that one, saying it was in response to the killing of a dozen youths playing soccer in the Golan Heights on Saturday.
Amid conflicting reports about how Israel managed to strike Haniyeh in Tehran, the New York Times reported that he was killed by a bomb smuggled several months earlier into the guesthouse where he was staying. It cited seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official, all of whom it said spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive details.
Israeli officials wouldn’t comment on that report. But the chief spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, may have indirectly corroborated it by saying that there was no air strike “anywhere in the Middle East” after the one that killed the Hizbullah commander in Beirut.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration used intermediaries to send warnings to Iran, Hizbullah and the Houthis of Yemen not to escalate, according to people familiar with US policy. The US also counseled Israel on the need for caution in its next steps, the people said.
But pledges to respond for the two assassinations rang out — from Hamas, Hizbullah and their sponsor, Iran.
Hizbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Thursday that the killings crossed his red line, saying the conflict now is an “open battle on all fronts.”
But he stopped short of declaring the killings to be an act of war and said his group fights both in anger and with “logic and wisdom,” reflecting the group’s declared intention not to widen the fighting with Israel.
Khamenei had earlier said that Iran has a “duty to seek vengeance” for Haniyeh’s death and Israel should expect a “severe punishment.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken echoed other world leaders in warning of the heightened risk to the region of the developing hostilities, which began in October with the invasion of Israel by Hamas militants that triggered the ongoing and brutal 10-month war in Gaza.
“It’s urgent that all parties make the right choices in the days ahead because those choices are the difference between staying on this path of violence, of insecurity, of suffering, or moving to something very different and much better,” Blinken said.
The US and others have been striving for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas for months without success. A truce would likely see the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and allow for much-needed aid to be delivered into Gaza.
Thursday marked the 300th day of the war between Israel and Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the US and European Union. Fighting continues unabated, with Israeli’s military reporting the striking of loaded launchers aimed at the country. On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes killed two journalists working for Al-Jazeera, the Qatari-owned network.
Within Israel a debate has arisen over the wisdom of assassinations, which the military said now includes Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s second in command, in a strike in Gaza last month. Some back the government’s argument that they’re an effective tool to deter and weaken groups like Hamas and Hizbullah and lead them to soften their negotiating positions.
Writing in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, commentator Avi Issacharoff praised the killings and said, “The Palestinian public that celebrated October 7th and the ‘victory’ over Israel has now come to see that Hamas too is vulnerable and fragile. That can’t be hidden any longer; they can’t bask in their victory over Israel.”
But Michael Milshtein, a former intelligence officer who heads Palestinian studies at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Centre, said in a radio interview that even though the killing of Haniyeh is an important symbolic act, the key player in Hamas remains Yahya Sinwar, believed to be somewhere in Gaza and who, he says, is far more radical than Haniyeh and may be emboldened without his influence.
“It’s incorrect to say that Hamas doesn’t want a deal — but on its terms,” Milshstein said. “The ‘increased pressure’ doesn’t lead to softening of positions by Hamas. And we have to understand that.” - Bloomberg