Biden Rejects Unrealistic Israeli Plan to Evacuate Rafah
Sullivan to Israelis: You are on the brink of being responsible for a famine crisis in the twenty-first century
Israeli private channel Channel 12 reported Tuesday that the United States had rejected an Israeli plan to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah in southern Gaza Strip in preparation for an invasion, amid international pressure to prevent an attack that would endanger the lives of over a million people.
According to the channel, U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed alternative proposals for Israeli military action in Rafah with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Council head Tzahi Hanegbi on Monday evening in a video call.
The meeting lasted about two hours and was attended by other Israeli representatives including Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Herzog, as well as Pentagon representatives from the American side.
“At the end of the meeting, a brief joint statement was issued on behalf of the White House, in which Israel would take into account U.S. concerns about the operation in Rafah, but during the same meeting, tough things were said by senior officials of the administration of President Joe Biden,” the channel added.
During the meeting, Sullivan told the Israelis, “You are on the brink of being responsible for a famine crisis in the twenty-first century, and this is not acceptable,” according to the same source, adding that “the evacuation plan you have presented so far is neither impressive nor feasible.”
Meanwhile, Blinken sarcastically remarked to the Israelis during the meeting, “According to your pace of work in delivering humanitarian aid, it will take 4 months to evacuate Rafah.”
Israeli Minister Dermer stated Hamas, “cannot be dismantled without entering Rafah, and this is a non-negotiable condition for achieving the goals of the war.”
In response, U.S. National Security Advisor Sullivan stated, “If there is no organized plan for the day after (the war), nothing will help you move towards dismantling Hamas, neither Rafah nor anything else.”
On Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that his country must invade Rafah with or without U.S. approval.
Many nations, including the United States, have urged Israel not to undertake any military action in Rafah without ensuring safe evacuation for over a million Palestinian civilians, with Washington repeatedly asserting in recent weeks that Israel has not presented any reliable plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah.
Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the release of hostages and cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip, which faces an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, have so far failed.
Israel, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in its devastating war on the Gaza Strip, has forced most Palestinians from the north and center of the Gaza Strip to flee to the city of Rafah, adjacent to Egypt.
Since October 7th, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war in Gaza, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries, most of whom are children and women according to Palestinian sources, leading Tel Aviv to be brought to justice before the International Criminal Court for committing “genocide”.
