The President of the United States, Joe Bidenasked the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to conduct a military operation in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip unless a plan “guarantees the security” of the populationthe White House hinted.
Rafah, on the border with Egypt, has become the last refuge for Palestinians who have been fleeing Israel’s incessant bombings in the Gaza Strip for four months in response to the Hamas attack on October 7th.
The United States, the European Union and other governments have expressed deep concern over Netanyahu’s plans to invade the city where nearly 1.4 million people are gathered, many of them sheltered in tents, due to a lack of food, water and Lack of medication.
Biden “reiterated his view that a military operation in Rafah should not be carried out without a credible and viable plan that guarantees security and support for the more than one million people housed there,” a White House summary said conversation that both heads of state and government held this Sunday.
Netanyahu insisted in excerpts from an interview published Saturday evening that the operation would be carried out in Rafah “while we provide safe passage for civilians to leave.”
He mentioned areas in northern Rafah that have been cleared and could be used as safe zones for civilians.
“We are working on a detailed plan to achieve this,” the Prime Minister said.
The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 left 1,160 people dead, most of them civilians, AFP news agency’s count based on official figures showed.
“The President reiterated our shared goal of defeating Hamas and ensuring the long-term security of Israel and its people,” the White House said in a statement.
“He also called for concrete and urgent measures to be taken to improve the effectiveness and consistency of humanitarian assistance to innocent Palestinian civilians,” he added.
The call on Sunday morning is the first known contact between Biden and Netanyahu since the US president said he believed Israel’s military operation in Gaza was “excessive”.
“There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and that has to stop,” Biden told reporters on Thursday in comments that were seen as a hardening of his tone toward Israel.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the Israeli offensive has left 28,064 dead since October 7, most of them women and children.
AFP