In the video: Benjamin Netanyahu and Anthony Blinken at the end of their meeting in Kirya in Tel Aviv./Video: Omer Miron / L.A.M.
United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed deep concern today (Wednesday) during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant about an IDF operation in Rafah, according to an Israeli senior official and a source privy to the contents of the meeting. Blinken said at the meeting that Israel must take steps more significant to ensure that the IDF's activity does not harm the UN teams, which distribute aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza and under the auspices of the UN or other international organizations, where Palestinian citizens are present.
Chief of Staff Hertzi Halevi said at the meeting that the IDF will operate in Rafah, as it has not yet disbanded the Hamas battalions that are in the city and have hardly been harmed since the beginning of the war.
Netanyahu and Linken/Government Press Office
why is it important
The Biden administration is very concerned that the IDF operation in Rafah, where there are over a million Palestinian citizens - a large number of them displaced - will result in many casualties and a humanitarian crisis many times worse.
In addition, the Americans fear that such a move will lead to an acute crisis between Israel and Egypt.
The Egyptians made it clear that if the IDF operation in Rafah causes an influx of refugees into Egyptian territory, this will cause a rift in relations.
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