Two American officials said that the United States is carrying out reconnaissance drone flights in the skies of the Gaza Strip, searching for hostages held by the Hamas movement.
The New York Times reported that reconnaissance flights carried out by US drones in the Gaza Strip, which aim to help locate hostages, search for “signs of life” and transfer information to the Israeli army, focus mainly on the south of the Gaza Strip, while the army The Israeli is working on the ground in the north.
Pentagon officials confirmed that this is the first time that American drones have operated over Gaza, stressing that the drones are not armed and do not support the offensive activities of the Israeli army in the region.
An aviation researcher tracking the flights told the newspaper that there appeared to be at least six MQ-9 drones involved in hostage locating operations.
US officials say the 10 missing Americans may be among 242 people detained in Gaza and believed to be in Hamas's sprawling tunnel network.
American sources: Israel has weeks, not months, to complete its goal in Gaza
US President Joe Biden and his senior advisors warned Israel that it will become increasingly difficult for it to achieve its military goals in Gaza as global anger intensifies over the scale of human suffering there.
The American CNN network said in a report that Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken explicitly stressed this issue in recent private conversations with the Israelis, telling them that the erosion of support would have serious strategic consequences for the Israeli army’s operations against Hamas.
She stated that behind the scenes, American officials also believe that Israel has a “limited time” to try to achieve its stated goal, eliminating Hamas , before the call for a ceasefire reaches a turning point.
A source revealed, “There is recognition within the US administration that that moment may come quickly. Some advisors close to Biden believe that there are only weeks, not months, left before rejecting the pressures imposed on the US government to publicly call for a ceasefire becomes unacceptable . ” ".
Two sources familiar with the matter said, “What particularly upset Biden and the national security team were the Israeli air strikes this week that targeted a refugee camp in northern Gaza , leading to grim scenes of widespread destruction and deaths,” stressing that “Biden did not like it.” "Absolutely."
A senior US administration official stated, “The problem for Israel is that criticism is increasing, not only among its critics, but among its best friends.”