Why Israel has heeded to US' request of delaying its Gaza invasion

Israel has agreed to delay an expected invasion of Gaza for now so that the United States can rush missile defences to the region to protect its troops there, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing US and Israeli officials. “Both Israel and the Biden administration want to exhaust every effort to try and get hostages out of Gaza,” an unidentified senior Israeli official told Axios. However, the official stressed that Israel is just delaying its plans for ground assault, not dropping them. Israel is also taking into account in its planning the effort to supply humanitarian aid to civilians inside Gaza, as well as diplomatic efforts to free hostages held by Hamas militants, the report said. Threats to US troops were of paramount concern, it said. The US military and other officials believe their forces will be targeted by militant groups once the invasion of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory starts. The United States is hurrying to deploy nearly a dozen air-defence systems to the region, according to the Journal. Reuters reported on Monday that Washington advised Israel to hold off on a ground assault in the Gaza Strip and is keeping Qatar — a broker with the Palestinian militants — apprised of those talks as its tries to free more hostages and prepare for a possible wider regional war. [caption id=“attachment_13298652” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinian exits a building destroyed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in the Maghazi refugee camp in Deir Al-Balah. AP[/caption] This followed reports that the Pentagon planned to send two Iron Dome missile defence systems to Israel to help it protect itself against inbound missiles, as well as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system and more Patriot air defence missile system battalions to the West Asia. While speaking to Axios, Israeli sources admitted that some of the hostages had likely already been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air raids on Gaza. On Monday, a Hamas spokesperson told Sky News that Israeli strikes had murdered 22 captives. According to the outlet, Israeli officials stated that they were aware that once their force launched its ground invasion, a deal for the hostages would be practically impossible. They urged Egyptian mediators that if Hamas wants to reach a solution, it must first release all of the women and children it has detained. With inputs from Reuters