Netanyahu: Israel to enter Rafah amid ongoing ceasefire talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to invade Rafah on Tuesday as negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire deal continue.

The United States and Israel disagree about the potential of an Israeli military ground invasion into Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza along the Egyptian border where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge during the war. It is also Hamas’s last remaining stronghold. Several governments, the U.S. included, and international entities have warned there could be significant civilian casualties if Israel goes ahead with full-scale military operations in the city without proper and extensive planning.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday, according to a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah, and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory.”

Hamas is considering a ceasefire proposal from Egypt that could delay and possibly stop an Israeli invasion of Rafah. While many details of the proposed deal remain unknown, U.S. officials have repeatedly said they’re hoping for roughly six weeks and that during that time, the international community would be able to surge humanitarian aid into the strip.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East, meeting with regional leaders. He said on Monday that the current ceasefire proposal is “extraordinarily generous” on the part of Israel, and he urged Hamas to accept the deal “quickly.”

“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” the secretary explained. “And in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have to decide, and they have to decide quickly.”

Biden administration officials have had multiple virtual meetings with their Israeli counterparts to discuss the latter’s intended operations in Rafah. Israeli leaders have delayed these plans for weeks as they haven’t been able to meet in person following Netanyahu’s decision to cancel their trip to Washington.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has met with Israeli officials twice virtually since Netanyahu canceled the scheduled in-person meeting over the U.S. abstention of resolution at the United Nations Security Council.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described Sullivan’s meetings as “productive” and said, “We believe that the Israeli government is taking our concerns into account and those conversations are going to continue. We would like to have an in-person meeting. That is certainly what we’d like to do.”

Netanyahu’s top advisers, national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Minster for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, were supposed to travel to Washington in late March for the meeting, but Netanyahu canceled their travel on March 25 after the U.S. abstained from what it believed to be an unfavorable U.N. Security Council resolution that allowed it to pass.

Blinken reiterated on Monday that the administration has “not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected.”

“We’ve said clearly and for some time now on Rafah that in the absence of a plan to ensure that civilians will not be — will not be harmed, we can’t support a major military operation in Rafah,” he added.

National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said Israel has agreed not to move forward with a full-scale invasion of Rafah until the U.S. has a chance to share its perspectives.

“We have to have a better understanding from the Israelis about what they want to do. As a matter of fact, we’ve had several staff talks with them,” he explained over the weekend. “We intend to do that more. They’ve assured us they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and concerns with them. So we’ll see where that goes.”

Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Sunday and reiterated his opposition to a Rafah ground invasion.

“The President and the Prime Minister also discussed increases in the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza including through preparations to open new northern crossings starting this week. The President stressed the need for this progress to be sustained and enhanced in full coordination with humanitarian organizations,” the White House’s readout of the call said. “The leaders discussed Rafah and the President reiterated his clear position.”

Israeli forces have routinely carried out deadly airstrikes in Rafah in recent weeks.

Nearly two dozen people were killed in airstrikes on Rafah overnight into Monday, the Associated Press reported, citing Palestinian health officials. The death toll throughout the war exceeds 34,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.

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The war has divided America, and the political dispute is playing out on several college campuses, on which students have protested their universities’ ties to Israel. A new Harvard CAPS-Harris survey found that an overwhelming majority of respondents support Israel’s war, but each age range supported it less as the group’s age range got younger, according to the Hill.

Eighty percent of respondents overall support Israel’s war, while more than 90% of people 65 years old or older, 85% of people between 55 and 64, 75% of those between 45 and 54, and the same percent of people between the ages of 35 and 44 all support Israel over Hamas. Sixty-four percent of people between 25 and 34 and 57% of people between 18 and 24 support it as well.