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American officials, on "alert" after the outbreak of war in Israel

2023-10-07 15:04:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

American officials, on "alert" after the outbreak of war in Israel

Illustrative photo

US officials are on high alert after the large-scale attack on Israel from Gaza as they work to assess the conflict.

"I condemn the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians. I am in contact with Israeli officials and I fully support Israel's right to defend itself from such acts of terrorism," the top US diplomat in Israel, Stephanie Hallett, wrote on social media.

US President Joe Biden, who last spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in September, has long defended Israel's right to defend itself and was expected to closely monitor the conflict throughout the day.

However, the attack comes at an extremely sensitive time in US-Israeli relations. It seems on the surface it would complicate a growing effort by the Biden administration to broker a normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Senior Biden administration officials had been working for months to broker such a deal, which would transform the region but is also expected to include some kind of concession to the Palestinians, who have watched the talks with concern.

The barrage of rockets from Gaza and Netanyahu's declaration that "we are at war" now threaten that agreement.

The broad contours of the agreement were outlined, but there are sticking points and US officials say there is still a long way to go before implementation.

Saudi Arabia has traditionally been one of the main regional defenders of the Palestinian cause.

Biden's current relationship with Netanyahu is also on a different level than it was during the last major flare-up between Gaza and Israel, in 2021.

At the time, Biden and his aides tried to contain the conflict from escalating into a larger war, including regular phone calls between the two leaders./ CNA