Despite a massive bombing campaign and ground invasion in Gaza, a senior Pentagon official believes Israel is no closer to eliminating Hamas' leadership, the New York Times reported Saturday.

According to the report: “A senior official in the US Department of Defense, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details, said that the operations so far have not come close to destroying the ranks of Hamas’ senior and middle leadership.”

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 10,100 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack, including at least 4,008 children. The newspaper report said that the United States is presenting proposals to Israel to reduce civilian casualties, such as using smaller bombs, but the administration of US President Joe Biden has so far refused to use the huge amount of military and other aid to put pressure on Israel.

According to the Washington Post, the United States is not setting conditions on military aid or using any other leverage it has over Israel because it “would not be very politically popular in any administration, in part because, aides say, Biden himself has a personal connection to Israel.” .

According to several press sources in Washington, White House advisors believe that the ongoing “Israeli ground invasion” in Gaza, which appears to be stuck without the ability to achieve the declared Israeli goals up to this moment, will only lead to destabilization and escalation in the region. Regardless of US officials' view of the war, they are seeking an additional $14 billion from Congress to continue funding the offensive.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel on Friday and proposed a "short humanitarian truce," but the idea was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even though the administration is working to get an additional $14.5 billion in support for Israel.

It is noteworthy that Blinken went to Amman and met with Arab leaders and foreign ministers on Saturday, who called for a true ceasefire, an idea rejected by the Biden administration. Blinken said: “From our point of view, a ceasefire now will leave Hamas in place and able to regroup and repeat what it did on November 7.”