US denies telling Israel not to invade Rafah: 'We're not gonna lay out terms'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House said Friday that it has not told Israel not to invade the southern Gazan city of Rafah, but acknowledged such an operation would be "a disaster" for the roughly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby reiterated the Biden administration's position that an invasion would be a "mistake," saying "we're not going to lay out terms" to Israel.

"This is a sovereign country, and they have their own military, and they have their own operations to conduct. They have to make those decisions. But as a friend of Israel, and an ally, as before today, and next week, we want to make sure that they make those decisions fully informed," he told reporters.

He said US officials will use a meeting with their Israeli counterparts early next week with to present Israel with "alternatives."

"We want to present to the Israelis some viable alternatives and options about how they could go after the legitimate threat of Hamas there in Rafah, without sacrificing the safety and security of those people at stake," he told reporters.

"Now, do they have to listen to our advice and counsel? No, but we have seen in the past where they have taken some of it on board. We hope they take this on board," he added.

Israel remains determined to carry out a military operation on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed Friday to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Netanyahu said that during his meeting in Tel Aviv with Blinken, who is on the third leg of a fresh Middle East tour, he asserted that the only way to defeat Palestinian group Hamas was through a military assault on Rafah.

Netanyahu said he also underlined that Israel would welcome US support for its operation in Rafah, but that "if we have to, we will do it alone."

US President Joe Biden has said that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would cross a "red line," but his senior officials were quick to backtrack on those remarks, saying the president did not set any "red lines" for Israel as it carries out its offensive.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas in which 1,200 people were killed and roughly 250 more taken back to the coastal enclave as hostages. About half remain capitve in Gaza.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.