Israel looks to approve an evacuation plan for Palestinians in Rafah as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to spar with the Biden administration in advance of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's expected visit Friday.
“I have already approved the IDF's operational plan, and soon we will also approve the plan to evacuate the civilian population from the battle zones,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
In Washington, US State Department Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel expressed the Biden administration’s opposition to a Rafah operation, which it fears will deepen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
“We have been very clear that … any kind of operation in Rafah … would require a serious and significant plan, one that addresses the varying and complex humanitarian challenges posed in the Rafah region.”
“We believe that Hamas can be defeated, but it must be done in a targeted and more precise manner, and hopefully it does not impact or have any negative impact on Palestinian civilians,” Patel said.
Israeli delegation set to discuss Rafah plans in Washington
An Israeli delegation led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzahi Hanegbi is expected to visit Washington next week to discuss Israeli military plans for Rafah, which is the last Hamas stronghold.
US President Joe Biden had asked Netanyahu to send such a delegation when the two men spoke earlier this week
Netanyahu has said that without a Rafah operation, Israel won’t be able to defeat Hamas.
The Biden administration has insisted that Hamas can be destroyed with more targeted plans and wants to lay out those options for the Dermer Hanegbi delegation next week.
US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin has separately asked Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to speak with him and other defense officials at the Pentagon.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu continued to make a public case about the importance of a Rafah operation.
In a public statement, he said that from the outset, “I told the President… It is impossible to complete the victory without the IDF entering Rafah to eliminate the remnants of Hamas's battalions.”
He explained that the IDF had executed several other operations in Gaza before tackling Rafah, noting that it “will take a little time” before that military campaign begins.
In the interim, “we are continuing to operate with full force. We are continuing to operate in Khan Yunis, in the camps in the center, in eliminating and capturing senior Hamas officials,” Netanyahu said.
He also delivered a virtual address to US Republican senators in Washington during a party luncheon. He spoke via video link nearly a week after the Senate's Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, gave a speech in the Senate harshly criticizing Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and urging new elections in Israel.
Wednesday's meeting underscored the politicization of Washington's Israel policy. Netanyahu has long been aligned with Republicans, who accused Schumer of seeking to "overthrow" the Israeli leader.
"He's going to do what he said he'd do. He's going to finish it," Senator Jim Risch said.
Democratic leaders have been grappling with divisions in their party over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza five months into a war that began with attacks on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7.
A spokesperson for Schumer said that Netanyahu had offered to speak to the Democrats as well, but Schumer declined, saying that the conversations should not be partisan.
"I care deeply about Israel and its long-term future. When you make the issue partisan, you hurt the cause of helping Israel," Schumer told reporters.
Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Netanyahu had addressed civilian casualties and the need to get more aid into Gaza. He said Netanyahu was "very supportive" of plans to build a temporary pier and bring in aid by sea.
"He's very sensitive to the fact that every civilian casualty is a very unfortunate event," Risch said.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Netanyahu had made a presentation and then taken questions from senators.
"I made it clear to him, that it's not the business of the United States to be giving a democratic ally advice about when to have an election or what kind of military campaign they may be conducting," McConnell told reporters.
The diplomatic and political battle over Rafah has occurred concurrent to hostage talks in Dohan, led by Qatar and Egypt,
A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that Israel's response to the group's latest Gaza ceasefire proposal was negative after mediators handed it over.
"On Tuesday evening, our brothers, the mediators, informed us of the occupation’s position on the proposal ... it is a negative response in general and does not respond to the demands. It retracts the approvals it previously provided to the mediators," Osama Hamdan told a press conference in Beirut.
He said Netanyahu and his government were responsible for the failure to negotiate a hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and stop the fighting in Gaza.
The Biden administration has blamed Hamas for not showing enough flexibility, noting that the terror group could end the Gaza war by freeing the hostages.
The US wants to see a hostage deal that includes a six-week pause to the war. In Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Blinken hoped to advance a hostage deal through talks with Prince Faisal bin Farhan. He was expected to hold talks with ruling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Blinken will then travel to Egypt, where he is expected to meet the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan, the Emirati international cooperation minister, and the secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization on Thursday. This will be Blinken’s sixth regional trip to Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.
Reuters contributed to this report.