Gen. C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that in meetings in Israel on Monday with senior Israeli political and military leaders, he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will discuss Israel’s criteria for deciding when to transition to stability operations in Gaza at the end of its major military operations and ensuring it is “a smooth transition.”
“The goal here is to have better security than they had prior to the events on 7 October,” Brown told reporters Sunday while en route to Israel.
Austin and Brown speak regularly with their Israeli counterparts about the conflict with Hamas and urge Israel to protect civilian lives as it carries out its operations, but their trip will build on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s meetings last week in Israel that had a similar focus.
“Part of this is us sharing our own experience and not building a plan for the Israelis, but actually talking through our own experiences and how we’ve gone through various conflicts in the past,” explained Brown.
Brown said the next phase of stability operations in Gaza has to provide
“some level of stability to provide support for security, governance,” and the continued flow of humanitarian aid.
He added that senior U.S. military officers can offer political leaders an idea of what will be needed to carry out those stability operations and ensure a smooth transition.
But Brown said he would also be listening to Israel’s viewpoint.
“It’s more of a dialogue that goes both ways, and I’m trying to understand where they’re coming from and what they’re — how they see things,” he said. “And I try to share based on my experience and the things that we see on how best to move forward.”
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
