White House denies withholding intel from Israel on Hamas leaders’ locations

The Biden administration denies it is withholding crucial information on the whereabouts of Hamas leaders from the Israeli government according to a New York Post report published on Monday.

“We’re not holding anything back,’’ an unnamed U.S. official told the New York Post. “We believe [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar should and indeed must be held accountable for the horrors of the October 7 attack,” the Biden administration official added.

The New York Post report comes shortly after The Washington Post reported that the Biden administration had offered to provide Israel with “sensitive intelligence” on Hamas leaders and their terror tunnels in exchange for Israel canceling a large military operation against the remaining Hamas forces in Rafah.

The White House opposes a major Israeli military operation in Gaza due to the presence of over one million Gazan civilians in the area.

The Washington Post report implied that the Biden administration was deliberately withholding sensitive intel from its Israeli counterpart, something that the White House now reportedly denies.

White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby recently stated: “We have a long, long and solid relationship on the counterterrorism front with Israel, which includes intelligence-sharing and includes operational lessons learned and other means of cooperation.”

Despite considerable efforts, Israeli forces have so far not found Hamas' chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, or Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Both are believed to be in hiding somewhere in the vast network of subterranean tunnels beneath Rafah.

Israel has had some success in targeting top Hamas leaders. In March, Israel eliminated Hamas’ No. 3 leader, Marwan Issa, who was hiding in a tunnel. In early January, a high-level Hamas commander, Saleh al-Arouri, was assassinated in an aerial drone strike in Beirut attributed to Israel Defense Forces.

In recent months, growing disagreements have emerged between the U.S. and Israel regarding the military strategy in the Gaza War.

The Biden administration has increasingly criticized Israel for what it considers to be a “too high” number of civilian casualties in Gaza. Much of the international criticism of Israel is based on unreliable death figures provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. According to a brand new UN report, the health ministry's original civilian death statistics were exaggerated by 50%.

Last week, the Biden administration confirmed it would withhold a large arms shipment to Israel, claiming that it fears that Jerusalem will use powerful bombs in dense urban civilian areas such as Rafah.