The American magazine Newsweek reported, quoting an officer who participated in deliberations within the administration of US President Joe Biden and in discussions with the Israelis, that part of the problem is Israel’s arrogance, but the simple truth is that it lost the information war because it destroyed a lot, even if it could justify each attack individually. .
The magazine quoted Israeli and American military sources as saying that Israel focused at the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip to harm the military machine of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), even if it targeted civilian buildings or activities nearby.
It also quoted a senior US Air Force officer as saying that Israel was using larger bombs – at least during the first two weeks of the war on Gaza – than the United States would use.
According to this officer, the Biden administration supports the overall war goal of eliminating Hamas, but is uncomfortable with the way Israel is seeking to achieve this goal.
The magazine added that Israel was striking fixed targets despite an estimate that the fighters had already evacuated them and chose to destroy them to make them unusable, noting that this is a practice that the United States avoids in its recent wars.
It also stated, quoting American and Israeli sources, that Washington is not only skeptical about the impossibility of eliminating Hamas, but also fears the repercussions of this on Israel as it seeks to achieve this goal.
The magazine also indicated that informed sources said that the US intelligence community agrees internally that the number of Palestinian deaths is consistent with the statistics of the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
According to the magazine, a US military intelligence officer said that Israel has caused massive civilian harm, and is prepared to cause a lot of civilian harm in its pursuit of its ultimate war goals.
That officer also said that two months after the war, Israel says that it has killed 20% of the estimated number of Hamas fighters before the war, considering that “this is a classic case of winning the battle and losing the war,” and that “Israel’s attack on Gaza is in fact an attack on civilians.”
However, an Israeli army official wonders, according to Newsweek, “Why would Washington sell us bombs weighing two thousand pounds if it is worried about us using them?”