WASHINGTON.– US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed with Israel’s war cabinet an upcoming transition to a new phase of the conflict in Gaza centered on the “selective elimination” of the leadership of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
“Right now we are in the middle of a high-intensity phase, characterized by bombings and ground raids in northern and southern Gaza, but there will be a transition to a next phase aimed at the (Hamas) leadership, more focused on the use of Intelligence data,” Sullivan explained this Friday during an appearance at the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.
The advisor refrained from setting a date for this new phase, although he has already discussed its “deadlines and conditions” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s war cabinet and the Army General Staff.
Sullivan offered these comments a day after senior officials in the Biden Administration assured the ‘Times of Israel’ on condition of anonymity that the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, will be one of the main targets of this new phase and that ” You can practically say that his days are numbered.”
Israeli Intelligence suspects that Sinwar would now be hiding somewhere in the Gazan city of Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip, after having escaped Israeli bombing in the north of the enclave hidden in a humanitarian convoy.
“That man has American blood on his hands. We are going to do justice, no matter how long it takes,” these United States security sources added, while government sources from Israel have declared to the same media that “(Sinwar) is dead right now.” walking” and the first objective of the Israeli return to a strategy of selective assassinations.
One of the latest examples of this strategy occurred in 2019, when an Israeli attack killed the financial officer of Hamas in Gaza, Hamed Ahmad al Jodari, considered responsible for transferring money from Iran to the militias operating in the Strip.
