'I told him [Blinken] that I hoped we would do this [invading Rafah] with US support, but if necessary, we would do it alone,' Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says.
"I told him that I hoped we would do this with US support, but if necessary, we would do it alone," Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says.The US initially sided strongly with Israel after the October 7. But relations have increasingly soured as the war drags on into its fifth month. / Photo: AA
Netanyahu said he told Blinken that Israel is working on ways to expel civilians from combat zones and to address the humanitarian needs of Gaza, where international aid officials say the entire population is suffering from food insecurity and starvation is imminent in the hard-hit north."I told him that I hoped we would do this with US support, but if necessary, we would do it alone."
The looming Rafah invasion has cast a shadow over ongoing efforts to forge a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.The US initially sided strongly with Israel after the October 7. But relations have increasingly soured as the war drags on into its fifth month with Palestinian death toll soaring and US President Joe Biden risking voter backlash during election time.
Roughly three-quarters of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled into Rafah, the farthest south they can go before the Egyptian border. Sprawling tent camps now dot the city.The US will share its ideas for alternatives at next week's meetings when a delegation led by Netanyahu's national security adviser and a member of Israel's War Cabinet heads to Washington.Blinken said talks would focus on post-war plans, another area of disagreement.
At the United Nations, Russia and China vetoed a US-sponsored UN resolution supporting"an immediate and sustained ceasefire" in besieged Gaza.
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