US pressures Israel on military targeting as Khan Younis fighting intensifies

WASHINGTON — A senior US official suggested Israel adopt a more restrictive targeting threshold as its military presses deeper into the Gaza Strip’s second-largest city of Khan Younis. 

David Satterfield, the US special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, said during an Al-Monitor webinar on Thursday that the Israeli military should be doing more to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, where health officials in the Hamas-run enclave say the death toll has surpassed 25,900. 

Israel should be making “absolutely sure” all of its units in Gaza understand “not just where deconflicted facilities are — as they have those maps,” Satterfield said. “But also the threshold for strikes needs to be such that a very, very careful, rigorous and sustained calculus is applied when a target is in sight.” 

“Our encouragement has been in all cases like this: Think through carefully what the risk of action is on the campaign and [think through] the strategic objectives of what the risk of inaction is,” Satterfield said.