Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas terrorists, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
The officials said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many Palestinian civilians at risk.
In a video statement released Sunday shortly after a fresh rocket barrage hit southern Israel from Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel would not bow to international pressure and withdraw its troops from Gaza entirely.
“Israel cannot accept this,” he said, according to the Times of Israel. “We are not ready to accept a situation in which the Hamas battalions come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure, and return to threatening the citizens of Israel in the surrounding communities, in the cities of the south, in all parts of the country.”
Separately, Mr. Netanyahu announced that the operations of Hamas-friendly Qatari news network, Al Jazeera, would cease immediately in Israel after the government voted to take advantage of a new law allowing it to close foreign broadcasters deemed a national security threat.
Mr. Netanyahu announced the decision on X, formerly Twitter, but details on the implications of the step on the channel, when it would go into effect or whether the measure was permanent or temporary were not immediately clear.
“My government decided unanimously: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will close in Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” Secretary of State Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on October 7 after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.
The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Messrs. Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and American national security officials.
“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.
The revelation of Israel’s continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.
They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.
Israel and its allies have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.
Mr. Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.
Mr. Blinken visited the region, including Israel, last week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”
In Arizona on Friday, Mr. Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that “the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
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