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25-03-2024
TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel risked further global isolation if it went ahead with plans for a ground assault on the Palestinian city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken met one to one with Netanyahu during a peace mission to the Middle East, at a time of strained relations over Israel’s assault in Hamas-ruled Gaza that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, with many more feared dead under the rubble, said the Gaza health authorities.
“We share Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas… though a major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it,” Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv.
“It risks killing more civilians, it risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance, it risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing,” he added.
Netanyahu said earlier that Israel would go it alone if Washington remained opposed to plans to push into Rafah against the territory’s southern border fence, where more than a million Gazans have taken refuge in makeshift shelters.
The Israeli leader said he told Blinken that he appreciated US support in its fight against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, and that Israel recognizes it needs to protect civilians.
“I also said that we have no way to defeat Hamas without going into Rafah and eliminating the rest of the battalions there and I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the US, but if we have to, we will do it alone,” he added in a video statement to reporters.
While Israel has talked about destroying Hamas entirely in the past, it is unclear how it would be able to do so, with experts doubting if it is even possible.
Israel claims Rafah is the last bastion for Hamas militants, and that it has a plan to evacuate civilians before an attack, though it has not shared one publicly nor with close ally Washington.
Senior Israeli and American officials were scheduled to meet in Washington later in March, when the United States will present to the Israelis alternative ways to hunt down Hamas without resorting to a full-on assault in Rafah.
“We believe a major ground offensive is a mistake” and would be a “disaster”, White House spokesman John Kirby told a briefing.
The US provides billions of dollars a year in military aid and regularly uses its diplomatic clout to protect Israeli interests.
In the latest diplomatic duel at the United Nations Security Council, Russia and China vetoed a US-proposed resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an Israel-Hamas hostage deal, saying it effectively green-lights a Rafah invasion.
The text reflected a toughening of Washington’s stance towards Israel Washington had earlier in the war been averse to the word “ceasefire” but Moscow and Beijing said it would still not do enough to restrain Israel.
They support an alternative text that Washington says is not strong enough in pushing Hamas towards ongoing diplomacy. France was also said to be working on an alternative resolution. (Int’l News Desk)
