ANDThe United States urged this Monday the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to define a post-conflict plan for the Gaza Strip after having promised a prompt appeasement in the offensive on the Palestinian enclave.
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State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed that The Israeli authorities have conveyed the message that “the end of the intense combat operations” in Rafah is approaching, the southernmost part of the Strip.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
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“From our perspective, the important thing is to work on the plan for the day after the conflict because we do not want to see in Rafah what we saw in other areas where Hamas regained control after the end of operations,” Miller explained.
The important thing is to work on the plan for the day after the conflict because we do not want to see in Rafah what we saw in other areas where Hamas regained control.
The spokesman for US diplomacy pointed out that For there to be a “lasting defeat” of the Islamist group, a Gaza governance plan led by the Palestinians is required, a realistic security strategy and a reconstruction project for the Strip.
“To achieve this, we continue to work with our Arab partners in the region and continue to pressure the Government of Israel to consider it,” he added.
Netanyahu said in an interview on Sunday that “the high-intensity phase of the war is going to end” and that this will happen “very soon.”
The prime minister said he was “prepared for a partial agreement” with Hamas to achieve the return of some of the hostages who remain kidnapped in Gaza, but insisted that he will not end the war until the Islamist group is destroyed.
A Palestinian boy sits in the rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli strikes in the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
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For days now, Military sources cited by the Israeli press predict at least three to four weeks to finish off the two Hamas battalions. which, it is estimated, remain intact in Rafah. It is unknown what will happen next in that phase of the war.
The deaths in the Gaza Strip since the start of the offensive last October exceeded 37,600 this Monday, after one of the deadliest days last weekend with more than a hundred deaths.
Minister of Defense of Israel, visiting the United States
This week the Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, is in Washington, that after his meeting this Monday with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, he will speak on Tuesday with the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.
Gallant promised this Monday in Washington that “every effort” will be made to bring back the hostages held in Gaza and urged close cooperation with the United States after tensions in the bilateral relationship.
Gallant met with the head of the CIA federal agency, Bill Burns, the United States’ key man in the negotiations to free the hostages of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, and then entered into talks with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant arrives at the US State Department ahead of a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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“I would like to emphasize that Israel’s primary commitment is to return the hostages, without exception, to their families and homes,” Gallant said before the meetings began.
“We will continue to make every effort to bring them home,” he said.
On May 31, US President Joe Biden presented a plan for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, ahead of talks on ending Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
Israel’s primary commitment is to return hostages, without exception, to their families and homes.
Hamas, which sparked the conflict with its surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel, has expressed its own demands, and the United States hopes that existing differences can be bridged.
Gallant’s visit to the United States also comes after Netanyahu has upset the Biden government in recent days by accusing Washington of cutting regular deliveries of weapons and ammunition.
But Gallant took a different stance Monday. “The alliance between Israel and the United States, led by the United States for many years, is extremely important,” he declared.
Flames and destruction where the Firas market used to be in the center of Gaza City.
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Aside from Israel’s own military, “our ties with the United States are the most important element for our future from a security perspective,” he said.
Biden, criticized by his own base due to his unconditional support for Israel, withheld a shipment that included 2,000-pound heavy bombs (more than 900 kilos).
But U.S. officials say Washington otherwise maintained the regular flow of arms deliveries.
Gallant is also expected to meet in Washington with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, senior White House official Brett McGurk, and Amos Hochstein, who focuses on tensions over Lebanon.
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