US not briefed on Rafah invasion date, says State Department

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US on Monday said Israel has not briefed the Biden administration on the date of a possible Rafah invasion after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said a date has been set for a long-planned ground offensive.

"To my knowledge we have not been briefed on that day," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters when asked about Netanyahu's statement.

Reiterating the US' opposition to a ground invasion of an Israeli assault on Gaza city of Rafah without a credible plan, Miller said: "We have not yet seen them present a credible plan for dealing with a 1.4 million civilians who are in Rafah."

"We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on the civilians and that would ultimately hurt Israel security," he said.

"We have made clear them that we think that there is a better way to achieve what is a legitimate goal, which is to degrade and dismantle and defeat the Hamas battalions that still remain in Rafah," Miller added.

Earlier, Netanyahu said in a video that "there is a date" for a ground invasion of Rafah, saying that "it will happen".