WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday urgently warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in opposition to launching an offensive within the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah because the divide between the 2 leaders continues to develop together with the mounting Palestinian loss of life toll.
The decision between Biden and Netanyahu got here as Israel seemed to be transferring nearer to a significant army operation to root out Hamas militants in Rafah — one thing that Biden and his high aides have repeatedly instructed Israeli officers will solely result in extra loss of life and worsen the despair within the war-ravaged territory.
Each leaders are dealing with rising public stress — Biden from protests on school campuses and Netanyahu from the households of some Israeli hostages — for a cease-fire deal.
“The president doesn’t need to see operations in Rafah that put at higher danger the greater than 1,000,000 folks which are looking for refuge there,” White Home nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby mentioned.
The White Home described the leaders’ 30-minute dialog as “constructive.” Privately, nonetheless, administration officers’ concern was mounting as Israel on Monday ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah and started finishing up “focused” strikes within the japanese a part of town.
White Home officers had been rigorously watching the unfolding, intensified Israeli motion in Rafah with deep fear, however didn’t imagine it amounted to the widescale assault Netanyahu has been threatening, in response to an individual accustomed to administration considering who was not approved to remark publicly.
Greater than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed within the battle that began after Hamas launched an assault on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200. Some 250 folks had been additionally taken hostage within the brazen assault.
In the meantime, the humanitarian scenario is quickly deteriorating in big swaths of Gaza. The pinnacle of the United Nations World Meals Program, Cindy McCain, mentioned Sunday that northern Gaza has entered “full-blown famine” after almost seven months of battle.
Forward of the leaders’ name, Israel introduced it was ordering Palestinians to start evacuating from Rafah. Quickly after the order, Hamas mentioned in a press release it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire.
Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari mentioned Israel would proceed its operations in Gaza as officers deliberate the cease-fire proposal permitted by Hamas. And the Israeli Struggle Cupboard voted unanimously to approve a Rafah army operation however mentioned it might proceed cease-fire efforts.
The brand new focused strikes in japanese Rafah appeared geared toward retaining the stress on Hamas as talks proceed.
Kirby mentioned Biden had been briefed on Hamas’ response that it might settle for a hostage deal. CIA Director William Burns, who was in Qatar for hostage talks with regional officers, was discussing the Hamas assertion with allies within the area. Kirby declined to debate the parameters of what Hamas is saying it has agreed to.
“Invoice Burns is taking a look at that response. He’s speaking to the Israelis about it,” Kirby instructed reporters. “And we’ll see the place this goes. Hopefully, it will probably result in these hostages getting out actual, actual quickly.”
In latest days, Egyptian and Hamas officers have mentioned the cease-fire would happen in a sequence of phases throughout which Hamas would launch hostages it’s holding in trade for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza.
Biden additionally instructed Netanyahu he nonetheless believes reaching a cease-fire with Hamas is one of the best ways to guard the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, officers mentioned. Israel says Hamas is holding about 100 hostages and the stays of greater than 30 others in Gaza. The leaders’ name occurred earlier than Hamas introduced it had accepted a cease-fire proposal.
Following his name with Netanyahu, Biden hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan for a personal lunch assembly on the White Home for talks on the battle and hostage talks. Jordan’s embassy in Washington mentioned in a posting on the social media web site X after the assembly that Abdullah warned that an Israeli operation on Rafah “threatens to result in a brand new bloodbath.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected worldwide stress to halt the battle in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the nation’s annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring, “If Israel is pressured to face alone, Israel will stand alone.”
“I say to the leaders of the world: No quantity of stress, no resolution by any worldwide discussion board will cease Israel from defending itself,” he mentioned, talking in English. “By no means once more is now.”
Of their cellphone name, Netanyahu instructed Biden he would make sure the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel would stay open for humanitarian support deliveries, in response to the White Home.
Israeli officers final week briefed Biden administration officers on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians forward of a possible operation, in response to U.S. officers accustomed to the matter.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder mentioned Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin had beforehand careworn with Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant that Israel wanted a “credible plan” to evacuate these civilians and keep humanitarian support. Ryder mentioned Austin had seen “the ideas” from the Israelis on their plan for an operation in Rafah “however nothing detailed at this level.”
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AP writers Tara Copp in Washington and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed reporting.