Blinken Says U.S. Will Offer Israel Alternatives To Rafah Invasion
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he told Israeli leaders Friday about alternatives to its plan for a major ground operation in Rafah, and that U.S. officials will provide details when an Israeli delegation visits Washington next week.
(Bloomberg) -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he told Israeli leaders Friday about alternatives to its plan for a major ground operation in Rafah, and that US officials will provide details when an Israeli delegation visits Washington next week.
“We’ll put all that on the table — of course we’ll hear from them, too,” Blinken told reporters on the airport tarmac before departing from Israel after a one-day stop. He said that “a major military ground operation” in Rafah, where more than one million people have sought shelter, “risks killing more civilians”and “wreaking greater havoc” in efforts to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his sixth tour through the Middle East since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants sparked the war in Gaza. Netanyahu and his aides have indicated Israel intends to press ahead with a Rafah campaign to finish off Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, even if they don’t have US support.
That prospect has become a key point of contention between the Biden administration and Netanyahu’s government. A US-backed resolution in the United Nations Security Council on Friday cited “the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in Gaza. Russia and China vetoed the measure as too weak.
Read more: Russia, China Veto US Resolution at UN for a Gaza Cease-Fire
Although Blinken said he started to sketch out the US alternative to an invasion of Rafah during his visit, he didn’t elaborate during his brief remarks to reporters.
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