Biden says Israel 'should not' invade Rafah during call with Netanyahu: White House

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden said Israel "should not" follow through with its plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah during a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said Monday.

"A major ground operation there would be a mistake. It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

Biden instead proposed that Netanyahu send a delegation comprised of military, intelligence and humanitarian officials to Washington "in the coming days to hear US concerns about Israel's current Rafah planning, and to lay out an alternative approach," Sullivan said.

"What the President said today was, 'I want you to understand Mr. Prime Minister exactly where I am on this. I am for the defeat of Hamas. I believe that they are an evil terrorist group with not just Israeli, but American, blood on their hands,'" Sullivan recounted.

"At the same time, I believe that to get to that you need a strategy that works and that strategy should not involve a major military operation that puts thousands and thousands of lives civilian innocent lives at risk and Rafa. There is a better way,'" he added, recalling Biden's comments during the call.

The president further rejected "the straw man that raising questions about Rafah is the same as raising questions about defeating Hamas. That's just nonsense," said Sullivan.

Netanyahu agreed to send the team, and the US has "every expectation" that Israel will not launch its Rafah offensive until the meeting takes place, which is expected to happen by early next week at the latest.

Just hours prior, Israel announced plans to conduct what it called a "major activity" in Rafah following the evacuation of Palestinians to the western area of the city. Netanyahu approved plans for the military operation on March 15.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 31,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in the enclave, and over 73,700 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60%of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Sullivan said that Biden's opposition to Israel's Rafah operation is centered, in part, on the fact that over 1 million displaced people have sought refuge there and "they have nowhere else to go. Gaza's other major cities have largely been destroyed."

"And Israel has not presented us, or the world, with a plan for how or where they would safely move those civilians, let alone feed and house them and ensure access to basic things like sanitation," he said.

Sullivan also pointed to Rafah's role as a primary entry point for international deliveries of humanitarian aid, adding that "invasion would shut that down or at least put it at grave risk right at the moment when it is most sorely needed."