The official added to reporters that White House National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan discussed in detail during his visit to Israel the efforts made to extract the remaining hostages from Gaza, and indicated widespread agreement that the future of Gaza must be led by the Palestinians.
He continued that Sullivan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussions about ways to shift Israeli attacks on Gaza to less intense operations focused on high-value targets, but stated that it would be “irresponsible” to give specific time frames for such a change.
“There was never an expectation that major ground clearance operations would continue indefinitely,” the official said.
The New York Times, citing unidentified American officials, reported that the White House had asked Israel to end its large-scale ground campaign in Gaza by approximately the end of the year and move to a more targeted and specific phase using elite special forces..
He is scheduled to meet with Sullivan on Friday With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
The two sides will discuss reforming the Palestinian Authority and holding “extremist” settlers accountable for acts of violence against Palestinians.
Palestinians complained of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
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