US defense chief concerned about Israel's execution of plan to protect civilians in Rafah operation

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Tuesday he has concerns about Israel's "lack of execution" of a plan to safeguard Palestinians in the event of an operation against the Gazan city of Rafah.

Austin acknowledged in a House Armed Services Committee hearing that Israel has a plan for the operation but raised doubts about its execution.

"The question is, can you execute? Are you executing the plan? And how much time are you allocating for," Austin said in response to a question from Rep. Ro Khanna.

When pressed on if the main concern was a "lack of plan" or "lack of execution," the defense chief responded: "Lack of execution."

"Making provisions for the civilians wherever you want them to be, so you have sustainment in that area. You know, you have the ability to move them from where they are now to wherever you're going to direct them to, and then are you willing to protect them as you do that? So, the housing, the medical care, all that stuff that that needs to be in place," said Austin.

The defense chief reiterated the necessity for Israel to prioritize the protection of non-combatant civilians and allocate sufficient time to carry out the tasks appropriately.

"There's a lot more that needs to be done before we can say that they've accounted for these civilians and taken care of,” he said before being interrupted by Khanna.

"I've also asked them to do things sequentially. So that must be the first thing that must be done before they consider any other any other military operations," he added.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military would enter Rafah to destroy Hamas battalions that remained "with or without" a cease-fire deal with the Palestinian resistance group.

The White House said it continues to oppose an Israeli invasion of the southern Gazan city.

Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, with thousands injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

*Merve Aydogan in Canada contributed to the story