US military advisers rush to Israel as offensive escalates

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, October 24

Israel stepped up bombardment ahead of an expected ground invasion amid the rising death toll and the collapse of health services in the Gaza Strip. Fears of a wider war increased after the US beefed up its ground troops and sent two top military advisers to Israel.

With the well-being of hostages emerging as a key factor, Israel could delay a ground invasion of Gaza for a few days to enable their release by Hamas. The release of two Israeli women on Monday preceded by the release of two US women earlier has led to western leaders wanting to get hostages out of Gaza before a ground assault.

On the 18th day of the war, the number of civilian fatalities in Gaza crossed 5,500.

The UN said only 54 aid trucks had entered the Gaza Strip in the past few days. It said it constituted only a fraction of the aid required in Gaza. “My colleagues told me that in one of the shipments over the last couple of days, we received boxes of rice and lentils. But for people to cook lentils and rice, they need water and gas,” said a UN official. The Pentagon is actively assisting Israel in its planning by sending military advisers and sophisticated air defence systems ahead of a ground assault into Gaza by Israel’s military. Forty years after the bombings that killed American and French soldiers in Beirut, United States troops are being deployed east of the Mediterranean. French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in Tel Aviv, proposed a coalition of willing nations to fight Hamas and sought the release of kidnapped French citizens. This has made numerous western bases all over West Asia susceptible to attacks which, so far, have been sporadic and caused only superficial damage at some US military installations.

As the source of the armed drones was Iraq, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and urged him to pursue those behind the attacks and “fulfil Iraq’s commitment to maintain the security at these installations,” said an official US release.

Believed to have liberally funded Hamas, Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said it “is untenable for Israel to be given an unconditional green light and free licence to kill”.

“We are against attacks on innocent civilians, regardless of their nationality, by any party. But we do not accept double standards, nor do we accept acting as if the Palestinian children’s lives are not worth to be reckoned with, as though they are faceless or nameless,” he said. Interestingly, Qatar hosts both a US base as well as the Hamas’ political office.

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