Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send high-ranking officials to Washington, D.C. soon to talk about potential military actions in Rafah. This is in response to US officials warning against a major operation there.
President Biden and Netanyahu talked on the phone on Monday. for the first time in weeks, as tensions simmer over Israel’s handling of its conflict with Hamas. They had a long conversation about Israel’s plans for Rafah, a city in Gaza bordering Egypt, which is currently sheltering millions of people who fled there after the war broke out.
“The president conveyed his deep concern about the possibility of Israel conducting major military operations in Rafah,” said national security adviser Jake Sullivan, pointing to the large number of refugees in the area and Egypt’s worries about a military action.
“The president has dismissed the idea that questioning Rafah is the same as questioning Hamas,” Sullivan mentioned.
“That’s just nonsense,” he added. “We believe that Hamas should not have a safe place in Rafah or anywhere else. However, a major ground operation there would be a mistake.”
Netanyahu agreed to send a group of high-ranking officials to Washington soon “to hear U.S. concerns about Israel’s current Rafah planning and to propose a different approach that would target key Hamas members in Rafah without a major ground invasion.”
Biden has tried to balance his frustrations with Netanyahu and his administration’s support for Israel in its fight against Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza. The president has stated that Israel has the right to defend itself after Hamas’s attacks last October, while also urging Israel to do more to safeguard civilians and allow aid into Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have died.
“He has the right to defend Israel and to continue pursuing Hamas,” Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart earlier this month. “But he needs to pay more attention to the innocent lives lost due to the actions taken.”
