Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel could launch major ground operations in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip without US support.
Netanyahu made the comments after speaking with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken who arrived in Tel Aviv earlier on Friday.
It was the final stop on Blinken’s sixth visit to the region since Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Stripfollowing Hamas terror attacks on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel.
Netanyahu insists on Rafah offensive after Blinken meeting
“We have no way to defeat Hamas without getting into Rafah and eliminating the battalions that are left there,” Netanyahu said.
“I told [Blinken] that I hope to do that with the support of the United States, but if we need to, we will do it alone,” he said.
Israel, the United States and several other countries classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Blinken and other US officials have advised Israel not to go ahead with its planned ground assault in Rafah. Netanyahu’s office has said that it agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to hear alternative proposals.
As Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday, Israel announced the seizure of 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank, a move that activists called the largest such seizure in decades.
Earlier in the week, Blinken and Arab leaders discussed efforts for a cease-fire as well as Gaza’s future after the conflict.
Security Council votes on cease-fire
Meanwhile, on Friday, the United Nations Security Council failed to pass a US-sponsored resolution that called for a cease-fire in Gaza following vetos from Russia and China.
The proposal called for “an immediate and sustained cease-fire to protect civilians on all sides, allow for the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and alleviate humanitarian suffering.
Blinken said earlier in Saudi Arabia that the resolution “does call for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages, and we hope very much that countries will support that.”
zc, sdi/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)
