Balancing act between Israel and the US over Gaza war

Increasingly as the Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks into Gaza continue, Washington is getting cold feet about backing the full-scale assault which has killed so many civilians. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has been back in Jerusalem yet again to plead for more restraint and to guarantee a humanitarian corridor. The trouble is, war is never about restraint. The US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 didn't tiptoe in and shoot dead only the bad guys. In total war, innocent people die. In Gaza, more than two million civilians are packed into the tiny territory, so calling on Israel to use restraint is like asking armed police trying to find a shooter with an assault rifle to use water pistols. The war in Gaza has provided terrible and heart-wrenching photographs of maimed children in hospitals amd women screaming with fear and panic. Washington wants Israel to go in softer while supporting Jerusalem's desire to eliminate Hamas once and for ever. The twin approaches are contradictory. I assume Washington realises this but then the US has to try and maintain a balancing act between supporting Israel as a rock-solid ally and keeping the Arab world on side at the same time to prevent a wider war. It's a contradiction that's going to end up in catastrophe if the war goes on and on.