Israel Looks to ‘Significantly Expand’ Gaza War

Netanyahu, Lieberman Rule Out Truce as Invasion Looms

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reported that the military is ready to “significantly expand” its war on the Gaza Strip, with concern that a ground invasion could begin pretty soon with more and more troops deployed in the border area.

Though Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are both hyping the prospect of further escalation and are both ruling out a truce agreement any time soon, they are reportedly receiving some resistance from the international community.

Not from the Obama Administration, of course, which has endorsed the war unconditionally, but from British FM William Hague, who has warned that a ground invasion with a large civilian death toll would cost Israel greatly in international sympathy.

British officials have repeatedly said that Hamas is entirely to blame for the war, and Hague claimed that Iran could also be blamed for the situation. That pretense could collapse quickly with a large civilian death toll, however, which seems to be the direction Israel’s hawkish government is heading.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.