US President, Joe Biden, indicates to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that the military operation in Rafah should not take place “without a credible and executable plan to ensure safety and support for over a million people who find refuge there”. This was announced by the White House, informing on the content of the telephone conversation between the two leaders. “Urgent and specific measures to increase the scope and consistency of humanitarian assistance to innocent Palestinian civilians” in Gaza were requested by the president of the United States.
During the phone call, Biden reiterated the “shared” goal of seeing Hamas “defeated” and ensuring the long-term security of Israel and its people. The two leaders then discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all hostages, and Biden “emphasized the need to build on the progress made in negotiations to secure the release of all hostages as soon as possible.”
Biden-Netanyahu tension: “Risk of rupture”
The meeting took place at a crucial moment, according to the picture outlined by the Washington Post. Biden and his administration's top aides “are closer to a break” with Benjamin Netanyahu on the war in Gaza and no longer consider the Israeli prime minister “a productive partner who can also be influenced in private”, writes the newspaper.
According to the newspaper, Biden's aides encouraged the president to distance himself from Netanyahu and “be more publicly critical of the prime minister over his country's military operation in Gaza,” while remaining in support of the initiative. It is no coincidence that Biden has expressed some of his harshest criticisms of Israel in recent days, defining His response to Gaza after October 7 was “exaggerated”.. Meanwhile, a senior Biden Administration official confirmed to NBC News that there is “a growing division between the United States and Israel”, particularly over the potential operation in Rafah.
In the city, in the south of the Strip, it is estimated that 1.4 million civilians are gathered. The population is partly made up of people who have already been forced to leave other areas of the enclave. Israeli forces “are working” on creating a safe passage to allow Palestinian civilians to leave Rafah, Netanyahu guarantees in an interview with ABC.
“I agree with the Americans (when they say they will not support an Israeli operation in Rafah if the safety of those who live there is not considered, ed.). We will do it, guaranteeing safe passage for civilians, to get them out.” We are working on a detailed plan,” Netanyahu says.
At the same time, the Israeli prime minister reiterates that victory “requires our security control and responsibility latest in security matters over the entire area west of Jordan, including the Gaza Strip”.
“There is no substitute – he says while visiting an army base in Julis – There will always be Israeli security control, and if this requires our presence inside (Gaza, ed.), then there will be a presence everywhere 'internal”.
Netanyahu still claims that victory is “within reach” and that, although it will take time, it will not take years. “It is a difficult battle, but a battle that we are winning, for the demilitarization of the Strip.”
#Attack #Rafah #Biden39s #conditions #Netanyahu #USIsrael #tension
