The virtual meeting on April 1 between top US and Israeli officials to discuss "Israel's" plans for a ground invasion in Rafah became intense after the Americans pushed back on "Israel’s" suggestion to evacuate Palestinian civilians seeking shelter there to proceed with the Rafah invasion plan, two US officials and one former US official familiar with the meeting revealed, as reported by NBC News.

The officials said that "Israel's" minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, started yelling and waving his arms around as he attempted to back the plan, adding that this was not met by an equivalent response from the American side as the officials present, including US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, remained calm. 

NBC News added that two current US officials and a former one said that when US officials stated that the Israeli plan presented in the meeting was not realistic, the Israeli officials went ballistic.

Two administration officials pointed out that this has long been routine for Dermer to react in such a manner during meetings with US officials, emphasizing that the contentious atmosphere in this meeting was very similar to other recent conversations between the two governments, as revealed by NBC News.

After the US media outlet published this article initially, an Israeli official who was present at the meeting said that the NBC News description of it was “a misrepresentation of what occurred in the room. The meeting was constructive and respectful, even during disagreements. There was no yelling at any point.”

What did 'Israel' suggest?

"Israel" suggested a plan to move 1.4 million Palestinians over several weeks from Rafah to tents to be set up north of the city.

However, the officials said that the Israeli suggestion only included the sourcing for a fraction of hundreds of thousands of tents required and did not entail plans for sanitation needs or an assessment of how much food or water would be needed or its source.

More meetings to come

Meanwhile, one official said that the meeting was productive as it was not for showcasing detailed plans but merely to initiate a process for the US and "Israel" to hold a series of meetings to discuss how "Israel" might proceed in its war against Gaza.

The two current officials and one former official said the Israelis did not provide specific details about an actual ground invasion of Rafah, adding that these plans are set to be discussed in more detail during another meeting between the US and Israeli officials expected to take place next week.