US: End game in Gaza ‘ultimately’ up to Israel

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the end game in Gaza is “ultimately” up to Israel as it escalates its operations into the territory without a clear military objective on what it seeks to accomplish aside from the eradication of Hamas.

CBS’s Margaret Brennan pressed Sullivan on what milestones Israel needs to pass to consider ending their efforts against militant group Hamas, which launched a deadly attack against Israel more than three weeks ago. Sullivan said on “Face the Nation” that ending the attacks would be up to Israel as the U.S. continues to advise them in its ongoing war.

“Well, they have declared they have told us in broad terms that making sure that Hamas can never again threaten Israel in the way it threatened Israel before is their core strategic objective in this conflict,” he said. “But in terms of what the specific milestones are, that is something that ultimately is up to Israel, this is their military operation, they will make that decision.”

“And we will continue to ask the hard questions, Margaret, that we would ask of ourselves in a military operation like this, what exactly are the objectives? How are the means matched to the objectives? And how will this evolve over time? That’s a conversation we’ve been having. It’s a conversation we will continue to have in the days ahead,” he continued.

He reiterated that the U.S. is concerned about the number of civilian deaths and has advised Israel to do as much as they can to avoid the deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza. However, Israel has stepped up its ground operations in the Gaza Strip over the weekend. This has raised concerns about the safety of civilians and the safety of those being held hostage by Hamas.

Hamas militants kidnapped more than 200 hostages in its initial raid of Israel on Oct. 7. Since then, only four have been released.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported that more than 8,000 people in Gaza have died since the start of the Israeli offensive earlier this month, the majority of which are women and children. More than 1,400 Israelis were also killed, mostly in the initial wave of Hamas’s attacks on Oct. 7.

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