NEW YORK, October 23. /TASS/. Washington has asked Israel to postpone the start of its much-anticipated ground operation in the Gaza Strip in order to better prepare for potential attacks on US forces across the Middle East, The New York Times reported, citing sources.

The newspaper’s sources said that the number of attacks on US forces may increase after Tel Aviv green-lights sending the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into Gaza, the stronghold of Palestinian radical group Hamas. The US suspects that such attacks may be carried out by regional groups backed by Iran.

According to the newspaper, the administration of US President Joe Biden is asking the Jewish state to postpone the operation not only for security reasons, as Washington wants to buy time to negotiate the release of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid. The New York Times pointed out that the Biden administration is not putting forward any demands on Israel and still supports Tel Aviv’s intention to conduct a ground operation aimed at destroying Hamas.

The newspaper’s sources claim that the advice to delay the start of the ground operation was passed through US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The US defense chief speaks almost daily with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Galant, and the two sides discuss US arms supplies and the deployment of US troops in the region. According to one of the newspaper's sources, Austin also told the top Israeli defense official that returning the hostages was a priority for the United States.

Earlier, CNN reported that Washington had pressured Israel to delay the start of the ground operation in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages held in the enclave. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on NBC that Israel should make its own decision whether and when to launch a ground operation, and that Washington could only give advice.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from Gaza. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank of the Jordan River as well.