CIA Director William Burns landed in Israel yesterday, according to news reports. The visit comes as the United States is supposedly trying to prod Israel to pursue a more targeted approach to attacking Hamas, allow pauses in the fighting for aid to enter Gaza and do more to avoid civilian casualties, the New York Times reported, although many Arab (and other) leaders doubt that real pressure is being exerted on Israel.
The United States is also looking to expand its intelligence sharing with Israel, providing information that could be useful about hostage locations or any follow-on attacks by Hamas. A U.S. official briefed on Mr. Burns’ trip said he planned to reinforce the American commitment to intelligence cooperation with partners in the region.
An unnamed U.S. official told Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of Axios that Burns will meet with several of his intelligence counterparts and leaders in the Middle East to “discuss issues of mutual concern including the situation in Gaza, support for hostage negotiations, and the U.S. commitment to continuing to deter state and non-state actors from widening the conflict between Israel and Hamas.”
