Vantage | Four parts that make up US strategy in this war

What is the United States of America up to in the Israel-Hamas war? President Joe Biden has been making many statements, his secretary of state is in Israel, they’ve deployed their biggest warship and sent a plane full of critical ammunition.

But what is America’s game plan? This matters because the US is Israel’s closest ally. No matter who is president is Washington or who is prime minister is Jerusalem, this relationship has stood the test of time. So, it’s no surprise that the US has professed unconditional support to Israel. All senior officials have condemned the Hamas attack and they have said that Israel is right to defend itself. President Joe Biden went a step further. He brought up the holocaust. “This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty, not just hate, but pure cruelty against the Jewish people, and I would argue it is the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” he said addressing a roundtable of Jewish leaders in Washington. In absolute number terms, he may have a point. Israel has fought multiple wars since the nation state was formed in 1948, it has been surrounded by hostile neighbours, it has withstood attacks and fought wars, it has also suffered many casualties over the years, but nothing matched the brutality, scale and suddenness of what we saw on October 7. Hence Biden’s statement. And he is not just spouting emotional rhetoric, the US President has also put a plan in motion. Broadly, we can break the US response into four parts. Part 1: Support The first part of the US strategy is providing material support to Israel. Here is what it entails: “We’re surging additional military assistance to the Israeli defense force, including ammunition, interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome,” said Biden. These supplies have started arriving and more are on the way. The US is currently relying on its existing budget to send weapons. Washington says it has enough for both Israel and Ukraine in the short term but that may not last too long. So, the Biden administration is making an appeal to the U.S. Congress, trying to squeeze out more funds for all the wars. Part 2: Intimidation The second is intimidating Israel’s enemies. There’s some serious muscle flexing going on. In Biden’s words: “We moved the US carrier fleet to the eastern Mediterranean; are sending more fighter jets there in that region and made it clear, made it clear to the Iranians: be careful.” Here’s what US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, said: “The USS Gerald R Ford strike group has now arrived in the eastern Mediterranean. As President (Joe) Biden has said, for any country, for any organisation, for anyone thinking of trying to take advantage of the agony in Israel, to try to widen this conflict or to try to spill more blood, we have just one word: don’t.” The USS Gerald Ford is the world’s biggest and most advanced warship. It’s been deployed to help Israel and it won’t be the only US aircraft carrier in the region. Reports say the USS Dwight D Eisenhower is also heading here today. Meanwhile, American aircraft are heading to US military bases in West Asia. So the message is clear: the US has Israel’s back, and this message is aimed at specific players - Iran, Hezbollah and any other enemies of Israel. If anyone interferes, the US will strike. Parts three and four are diplomatic. Yesterday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Israel. He’s there to show solidarity. He met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that the US isn’t going anywhere. It was a powerful show of support. But that’s not the only reason Blinken is in Israel. He will also be working diplomatic back channels to help innocent Palestinians caught in Gaza. Part 3: Helping refugees As we keep saying, Hamas is not Palestine. Hamas have effectively held innocent Palestinians hostage in Gaza and these people need to get out of the besieged strip. Blinken is in touch with all the actors. Today, he will meet the president of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The US is working to open up a refugee corridor. “Let me just say right up front, we’re actively discussing this with our Israeli and our Egyptian counterparts. We support safe passage for civilians. Civilians are not to blame for what Hamas has done, they didn’t do anything wrong and we continue to support safe passage,” said US national security spokesperson John Kirby. Talks with Egypt are shaky. Reports say Cairo doesn’t want an influx of refugees. But there’s no other way out for the people of Gaza. It’s either Egypt or the Mediterranean. So, Blinken is here to iron out this refugee corridor issue. But that isn’t his only diplomatic mission. Part 4: Retrieving the hostages An important part of the U.S. response is hostage negotiations. “Finally, we’re of course very focused on our own people, our own citizens. We lost 22 Americans. that number could still go up and it probably will. At the same time, we have a number of Americans who remain unaccounted. We are working very closely with the government of Israel to determine their whereabouts and if they have been taken hostage by Hamas to work to secure their release,” says Blinken. How many American hostages have Hamas taken? The US is not sure. So far they say 17 Americans remain unaccounted for, not all of them are believed to be hostages. But the number could go up. It’s a rapidly changing situation in Israel, which is why Biden has sent his top diplomat Blinken to secure the hostages. There’s a lot of work to be done, and it has to be done fast. Every moment passed, means higher risk for innocent lives. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.