Biden talks with Netanyahu as Israeli army gets closer to initiating Rafah offensive

President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack the city of Rafah in Gaza. Israel seems like they might attack to get rid of Hamas militants.

However, after Israel said that about 100,000 Palestinians in Rafah needed to leave, Hamas agreed to stop fighting Israel and accept a ceasefire proposed by Egypt and Qatar.

Israel did not say anything about the deal right away, and the details of the plan were not made public. A person from the US government, who could not talk about it in public and wanted to keep their name secret, warned that the White House still needed to find out more about what Hamas wants and if it matches what Israel and other countries have agreed to, or if it’s something different.

Lately, Egyptian and Hamas officials have said that the ceasefire will happen in stages. During each stage, Hamas will release hostages it has and in return, Israeli troops will move back from Gaza. On Monday, people were having discussions in Qatar.

High-ranking officials in the Biden administration are urging Hamas to agree to a good offer from Israel. This deal could lead to a longer period of peace and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. It might also help to stop the ongoing conflict for good.

The White House said that Biden talked to Netanyahu on the phone on Monday morning. They discussed their worries about an attack on Rafah, where more than 1 million people from Gaza are living. The war started because of an attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct 7, and it has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and made life difficult in the area. Biden told Netanyahu that he still thinks that making a deal to stop the fighting with Hamas is the best way to keep the Israeli people safe.

According to a summary from the White House, the President repeated his strong stance on Rafah.

Biden met with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House on Monday to talk about the war and hostage negotiations.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said no to outside pressure to stop the fighting in Gaza. He made a strong speech on the day Israel remembers the Holocaust and said, “If Israel has to be by itself, it will be by itself. ”

“I tell the world leaders: No matter what they say or do, Israel will keep on defending itself,” he said in English. “Never again is happening now. ”

The Israeli army told 100,000 Palestinians to leave Rafah on Monday. This means they might invade the area soon. It also makes it harder to make a peace agreement.

On Sunday, there was more fighting between Hamas and Israeli soldiers. Hamas shot rockets at the soldiers near a border with Gaza. The rockets killed four soldiers. At the same time, bombings in Rafah, Israel killed 22 people, including children and two babies, as reported by a hospital.

Netanyahu promised Biden that he would keep the Kerem Shalom crossing open for sending help to people in Gaza. This was confirmed by the White House.

Israeli officials recently told the US government about a plan to move Palestinian civilians out of an area before a possible military action.

The people in charge, who were not allowed to talk publicly and asked to keep their names secret, said that the plan from Israel didn’t change the US government’s opinion. They still think that an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians in danger.

Pentagon spokesperson Maj Gen Pat Ryder told reporters on Monday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had talked with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about the need for Israel to have a good plan for evacuating civilians and providing humanitarian aid. Ryder said that Austin has seen some ideas from the Israelis about their plan for an operation in Rafah, but they haven’t seen all the details yet.

Israeli authorities have told people to leave some areas of Rafah and go to a place called Muwasi, which is a camp near the coast that Israel has said is for helping people.