US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that an important Israeli attack on the southern Gaza town of Rafah would be a “mistake” and “not needed” to defeat Hamas. This shows that the relationship between the United States and Israel is getting worse.
Blinken had an important meeting with important Arab leaders in Egypt to talk about stopping the fighting in the Middle East. This is his sixth time going there since the war started. They also discussed plans for what will happen in Gaza after the war is over. He said we need to stop fighting right away and release the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The US, Egypt, and Qatar have been working on negotiations and getting closer to an agreement. The talks will keep going in Qatar on Friday with important people.
Blinken is going to Israel on Friday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team that makes decisions about war. The fighting between Netanyahu and President Biden about how to fight the war will probably be more important than their discussions. Netanyahu really wants to start a ground attack on Rafah, where a lot of Palestinians are hiding from Israeli attacks.
Netanyahu said that Israel needs to invade Rafah in order to destroy Hamas after the deadly October events. Israel started bombing Gaza and launching an attack after 7 people were taken as hostages.
“We don’t think it’s a good idea to have a big military operation in Rafah. ” “We don’t need to work with Hamas, and that’s important,” said Blinken at a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. A big attack would cause more innocent people to die and make the situation in Gaza even worse, Blinken said. He also said that he will be talking about different plans with Israeli officials in the coming days, to find a better solution.
The US has changed its stance on a Rafah operation a lot in the past few days. At first, US officials said they couldn’t agree to a big attack on the city unless there was a safe plan to get civilians out. US officials said they have looked into it and think it’s not possible because there are too many people living there. They are suggesting that the only way to prevent harm to civilians is to use operations that specifically target known Hamas fighters and leaders.
However, Netanyahu promised to disregard warnings and proceed with the Rafah operation during a 45-minute call with GOP senators on Wednesday. He also criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for speaking out against the number of innocent people killed in Gaza and for calling for new elections in Israel in a speech that Biden later said was âgood. â
Netanyahu said Israel will continue in Rafah, as per the senators in the meeting. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, said Netanyahu clearly stated that he and the people of Israel plan to fight the war with all their strength and won’t let Senator Schumer or President Biden tell them what to do.
Israeli critics say that Netanyahu is causing damage to American support by making strong connections with Republican leaders.
When Blinken and the Arab ministers got together, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that almost 32,000 Palestinians have died since the war started there. Furthermore, UN officials have increased their warnings that there could be a famine very soon in northern Gaza.
Blinken met with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in Cairo. They also met with a leader from the Palestine Liberation Organization, a group that represents the Palestinian people. They also talked about how to send help to Gaza quickly by land, air, and sea.
During a previous meeting, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi told Blinken that it’s important to stop fighting right away and cautioned against any Israeli attack in Rafah. This was reported by el-Sissi’s spokesperson.
Both groups said they still don’t want Gazans to be forced out of their homes and they agreed it’s important to do everything they can to make sure that food and supplies get into Gaza.
Blinken said the differences are getting smaller in talks about stopping the fighting, but we still have more work to do. “He said there are still difficult problems to solve. ” “We’ve fixed some problems, but there are still more to fix. ”
Netanyahu’s office announced that the leader of the Mossad spy agency will go back to Qatar on Friday. He will meet with CIA chief William Burns and other important people involved in the talks. On Thursday, the office announced that the prime minister of Qatar and the intelligence chief of Egypt will also participate in the discussions.
At the same time, the United States wants a fast vote on a new UN resolution that asks for a quick and lasting stop to the fighting, to keep people safe and allow aid to be given. Robert Wood, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, said he wants to have a vote by the end of the week. The decision is important because it doesn’t insist on stopping the fighting to free the hostages.
Still, Blinken said the two must go together. “He said we need to stop fighting right now and let the hostages go. ”
Netanyahu has disagreed with the Biden administration’s repeated warnings that Israel needs an independent Palestinian state for long-term security.
A clear plan and deadline for creating a Palestinian state are important for Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to be friends with Israel. This is something Netanyahu really wants to make happen. Blinken spent a lot of time in Jeddah with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talking about making things more normal between the US and Saudi Arabia.
Biden and Netanyahu finally talked on the phone after not speaking for a month. They agreed that experts from Israel would go to Washington to talk about the Rafah plans. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is going to Washington next week for a visit.
The fighting started when Palestinian fighters killed about 1,200 people in a surprise attack in October. 7 attacks from Gaza started the war and kidnapped 250 people. It is believed that Hamas is still keeping about 100 people as hostages and the remains of 30 other people.