US denies green-lighting Israeli Rafah invasion for not striking Iran

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Axios
18 Apr 2024 18:37
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The spokesperson for the Israeli government says that a date for a ground offensive against the densely populated city has been set.

A Palestinian woman and children sit outside tents in Rafah in southern Gaza after being forcibly displaced by Israelis from other regions of the Strip, on February 8, 2024 (AFP)

The United States and "Israel" will hold a high-ranking video meeting on Thursday to discuss Israeli plans to invade Rafah, Axios reported, citing two US officials.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government spokesperson said that a date has been set for the attack - the second time such announcement has been made this month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed earlier this month that a date for the Rafah aggression has been chosen, but his claims were debunked by Security Minister Yoav Gallant during a visit to Washington last week, Axios said in a previous report.

US President Joe Biden's administration has issued multiple calls for the occupation entity to defer a ground offensive on the small city of Rafah, now sheltering over 1.3 million forcibly displaced Palestinians, unless it presents a feasible plan to evacuate civilians, as "Israel's" global image continues to be tarnished with its ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Greenlight

Following the Iranian response to the Israeli attack on its consulate, the United States and other allies of "Israel" urged it not to hastily react by striking Iran, fearing that it would lead to a regional war that might drag Western countries into it.

Reports suggested that Washington has proposed to greenlight the Israeli attack on Rafah if the occupation chose not to attack Iran - for the moment at least.

But Axios sources denied these claims.

This will mark the second meeting of its kind in the past few weeks. Israelis presented during the discussions an attack plan, but it was deemed by the White House as insufficient.

A face-to-face meeting planned for this week in Washington had to be rescheduled due to the Iranian response.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will lead the US side of the talks, while Israelis delegated Sullivan's counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi and the Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, according to the news site.

Genocide and re-elections

According to a US official, the IOF proposed in recent low-level working groups' meetings a plan that includes a "gradual, slow operation in specific neighborhoods of Rafah that will be evacuated in advance — rather than an all-out invasion of the entire city."

Israelis have imposed on Gaza a starvation policy since the war began. It included a comprehensive blockade on the Strip, in addition to repeated massacres against Palestinians gathered to receive the little UN-provided aid entering, most notably the Flour Massacre. Israelis also killed key Palestinian figures and government officials tasked with organizing and distributing aid.

Biden, who is currently campaigning for a second term later this year, has maintained an unconditional supply of bombs and weapons and funding to the Israelis despite growing global public and political pressure as famine strikes many regions of Gaza due to the Israeli prevention of food from being delivered.

The United States, France, and some Arab governments have been conducting airdrops containing food for the past weeks. But UN top officials have warned that this does not fulfill even a fraction of the population's needs and called for opening the border crossings to deliver sufficient aid supplies, while many human rights organizations and experts slammed the airdrop measures as masquerades.

Subsequently, Biden has made public calls to Netanyahu to allow further aid via land routes to enter Gaza.

"The Israelis haven't reached all the goals set by the president yet, but there is a big improvement," the official said according to Axios.