Biden objects to Israel’s attack on Rafah
Last Updated on March 19, 2024 6:01 am
War-torn Palestinians from different parts of the Gaza Strip have taken refuge in the city of Rafah, which has been devastated by Israeli forces’ ongoing attacks and operations for more than five months. Israel has already announced plans to attack the populated part of Gaza. In the meantime, the Israeli army has been given permission to attack Rafah by the Netanyahu administration.
However, the United States has objected to this attack. US President Joe Biden has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the attack on Rafah would be a wrong move.
Al Jazeera reported this information in a report on Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone for the first time in a month on Monday amid rising tensions, according to reports. There, Biden told Netanyahu that a large-scale ground attack on Gaza’s Rafah would be a mistake.
The White House said Netanyahu agreed to Biden’s request to send a delegation of senior Israeli officials to Washington to discuss plans for Israel’s Rafah offensive and possible “alternative approaches.”
Before this, Biden and Netanyahu last spoke on the phone on February 15. And since then, President Biden has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the Palestinian death toll and UN warnings of famine in Gaza and the dire humanitarian situation in the besieged territory. Even in the second week of March, Joe Biden commented that Netanyahu is harming Israel.
Meanwhile, Biden also explained why he is deeply concerned about the possibility of Israel conducting a large-scale military operation in Rafah, US National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan said in a briefing on Monday.
Sullivan said conducting a large-scale ground operation there would be a mistake, causing more innocent civilian deaths. It will worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza and further isolate Israel internationally.
Biden also asked Netanyahu to send a senior team of military, intelligence and aid officials to Washington. Netanyahu responded to the call, Sullivan said, adding that an Israeli delegation would travel to Washington to hear US concerns about Israel’s current Rafah plan and to discuss an alternative approach to operations targeting Hamas.
Incidentally, on October 7 last year, Israeli forces launched an invasion of Gaza in response to an attack by Hamas. About 32,000 Palestinians have lost their lives so far, most of them women and children, in this attack that has been going on for more than 5 months in the name of overthrowing Hamas. According to the United Nations, about 1.9 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip, which has been almost destroyed by the continuous attacks of the occupying forces. Among them, 1.3 million people have taken refuge in Rafah. This time Israel is planning to attack Rafah in this populated city.