Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. will join Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in his trip to the region, the first time the military’s highest-ranking officer will visit the Middle East since taking on the role.
He and Austin will be in Israel for meetings with senior Israeli officials, press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
The trip comes as the Biden administration has stressed a desire for Israel to embark on a lower-intensity phase of its conflict against Hamas to minimize civilian deaths.
More than 18,000 Palestinians, a large portion of them children, have been killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, causing international outcry.
The White House wants a ratcheting down on the intensity of fighting in Gaza in favor of a more targeted strategy in the “near future,” according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
President Biden also said he wanted Israel “to be focused on how to save civilian lives. Not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful.”
To that end, national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Israeli leaders about the war’s progress and “where the Israelis think it’s going to go” during a visit Thursday to Tel Aviv, Kirby said.
After further talks, Sullivan on Friday said both the U.S. and Israel expect fighting to slow down in the months ahead.
Israel “was clear from the beginning that this war would proceed in phases,” Sullivan told reporters in Tel Aviv.
Sullivan later said that when the next phase happens it “will look different and operate differently on the ground and have different impacts on the civilian population of Gaza,” according to an interview with Israel’s Channel 12.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
