Pressure over Rafah offensive
Biden summons Israeli delegation
March 19, 2024, 6:59 a.m
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The Israeli government is firmly committed to a ground offensive in Rafah. US President Biden believes this is wrong and asks Netanyahu for talks in Washington. Israel’s prime minister agrees: High-ranking representatives should talk to US colleagues about an “alternative approach” in southern Gaza.
US President Joe Biden has increased pressure on Israel over a planned large-scale ground offensive by the Israeli army in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. He asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to send a delegation to Washington to discuss ways to target the Islamist Hamas without a major ground offensive in Rafah.
In a phone call with Netanyahu – his first in more than a month – Biden called an offensive in Rafah a “mistake,” the White House said. A major ground offensive “would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already terrible humanitarian crisis, deepen anarchy in Gaza and further isolate Israel internationally,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The US president also reiterated on
Biden under pressure
Netanyahu agreed to a request from Biden to send a delegation of senior Israeli representatives to Washington to discuss plans for the offensive and a possible “alternative approach.” In Rafah, 1.4 million people now live in a small area after the Israeli army invaded the coastal strip as a result of Hamas’ major attack on Israel on October 7th.
After the major attack, the USA joined forces with Israel. They also helped Israel with continued payments worth billions of dollars. But in view of the high number of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip and the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, Biden has recently expressed increasingly clear criticism of Netanyahu’s actions.
Biden on Friday praised Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer’s speech on Israel. Biden’s party colleague had called for new elections in Israel and described Netanyahu as an “obstacle to peace”. Biden is under increasing pressure in the USA because important voter groups for him are dissatisfied with his Middle East policy.
Blinken travels to Saudi Arabia and Egypt
The Israeli head of government said he confirmed in his phone call with Biden that Israel was determined to achieve all of its goals in the war against the Islamist Hamas. According to a statement from his office, Netanyahu called for the destruction of Hamas, the release of all hostages and the creation of conditions so that the Gaza Strip “will never pose a threat to Israel.”
Meanwhile, the US announced that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week in efforts to secure a ceasefire and increase humanitarian aid for the Palestinians. Blinken will hold talks in Jeddah with Saudi Arabian officials on Wednesday before traveling to Cairo on Thursday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. Discussions with Egyptian representatives are planned in Cairo.
The USA and Egypt, along with Qatar, are an important mediator in the war between Israel and Hamas. Negotiations about a ceasefire and the release of hostages have been going on for weeks. There is apparently currently a proposal on the table for a six-week ceasefire and for an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
“Positive” talks about a possible ceasefire
On Monday, the head of the Israeli secret service Mossad, David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Abdelrahman al-Thani and high-ranking Egyptian representatives wanted to meet in Doha to discuss a possible ceasefire. According to the US news portal “Axios”, there were “positive” discussions. The Israeli negotiators wanted to stay in Doha to continue “detailed” talks with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7th, in which, according to Israeli information, around 1,160 people were killed and around 250 others were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 31,700 people have been killed so far.