CIA director visits Israel and the Middle East during the war between Israel and Hamas
William J. Burns, the director of the CIA, arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with leaders and intelligence officials, the first stop of a multi-country tour in the region, according to US officials.
The visit comes as the United States tries to urge Israel to take a more targeted approach to attacking Hamas, allow pauses in the scramble for aid to enter Gaza and do more to reduce civilian casualties prevent.
The United States also wants to expand its intelligence sharing with Israel and provide information that could be useful about hostage locations or possible follow-up attacks by Hamas. A US official briefed on Mr Burns’ trip said he planned to strengthen the US commitment to intelligence cooperation with partners in the region.
Mr Burns will travel to several countries in the Middle East for discussions on the situation in Gaza, the ongoing hostage negotiations and the importance of preventing the war with Hamas from spreading to a broader context, the US official said.
U.S. officials have been visiting Israel on a regular basis since the war broke out after Hamas fighters attacked Israeli cities on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Israel has retaliated with a punishing air campaign and a ground invasion of Gaza, where Hamas is in control. More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in airstrikes since Israel began retaliatory measures, according to Gaza’s health ministry. US officials said their estimates of the number of Palestinians killed were similar.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrived Friday to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and key national security officials that there are more effective ways to cripple Hamas than the intensive air campaign.
A CIA spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on the director’s travels.
Mr Burns, who has extensive experience in the region and served as key intelligence leaders in Israel, has been heavily criticized for failing to detect the attack and the wider Hamas threat.
As one of the Biden administration’s most trusted voices on Middle East issues, Mr. Burns has become something of a roving problem-solving diplomat for the White House.
The visits by US officials, especially President Biden, have had an impact on Israelis, many of whom are frustrated with Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis. Still, there are tensions between Israeli officials and their American counterparts, as the United States pushes Israel to embrace a military campaign that takes greater care to minimize civilian casualties.
U.S. officials say they are not telling Israelis what to do, but they are advising them on their own experiences with the Iraq war and urging Netanyahu’s government on the importance of not imitating America’s missteps after the attacks. September 11, 2001.
Mr. Burns’ visit to Arab countries could be as important as his meetings in Israel.
His exact route is unclear, but he is expected to visit Jordan. King Abdullah II canceled a meeting with Mr Biden after an explosion at a Gaza hospital resulted in many casualties. While the United States and Israel blame Hamas for the explosion, Hamas has said Israel is responsible. Much of Jordan’s population is ethnically Palestinian, putting the country, a close US ally that has a peace treaty with Israel, in a particularly difficult position in dealing with the fallout from the war.
Mr Burns has a particularly close relationship with King Abdullah. He was the ambassador to Jordan when King Hussein died and Abdullah ascended the throne. King Abdullah recently wrote a letter praising Mr. Burns’ diplomatic skills at a ceremony honoring the CIA director.