Biden warns Netanyahu against attacking Rafah without “credible” protection plan for Palestinians

The imminent military operation that Israel is preparing against Rafah, in Gaza, should not be carried out “without a credible and executable plan that guarantees security and support” to the 1.4 million people refugees in this town on the border with Egypt, he said. US President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement from the White House.

Both leaders spoke by telephone this Sunday, in their first direct contact since January, and three days after in a press conference, Biden declared to journalists that Israel had “gone too far” in its war in Gaza after the terrorist attacks. the radical Palestinian militia Hamas on October 7.

Nearly 28,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, in the offensive since ordered by Netanyahu's government.

Those comments by the American president represent the latest sign of growing tension between two governments that, behind closed doors, boast excellent relations.

The Biden Administration insists that it shares with the Netanyahu Government the objective of Israel's security and the destruction of Hamas, sends weapons to the allied country and rejects international calls for a permanent ceasefire.

But in private, as revealed by the recording of a meeting with Arab-American leaders leaked to

The New York Times

, senior White House officials describe representatives of the Israeli Executive as “abhorrent.”

The recent visit of Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to Tel Aviv ended without apparent progress in attempts to moderate the positions of the radical right-wing Israeli government.

The telephone conversation between Biden and Netanyahu occurred after Egypt has threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if Israeli troops enter Rafah, where more than half of the population of Gaza is huddled, taking refuge there to flee the bombings in the rest of the strip.

Cairo fears that the fighting could close the main and precarious route for humanitarian aid to enter the territory, and that tens of thousands of Palestinians could try to cross the border to flee the bullets.

Israel, for its part, claims that being in Rafah is essential to consummate its victory against Hamas.

In an interview with the conservative television network Fox, Netanyahu downplayed international concerns this Sunday.

The UN and humanitarian organizations warn of a disaster in the event of an attack on the border city, the last refuge for the Palestinian population, and point out that around 80% of the inhabitants of the Strip have already had to leave their homes.

But the prime minister assured his interviewer that there is “plenty of space north of Rafah for refugees to go there.”

Also, that evacuees would be informed “with leaflets, mobile phones, safe corridors and other things” so that they can move.

In this Sunday's conversation between the two leaders, Biden, who will receive King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House this Monday, also emphasized "the need to capitalize on the progress made in the negotiations to guarantee the release of the hostages" in Gaza “as soon as possible” and called for “urgent and specific steps” to increase the entry of humanitarian aid into the strip, according to the presidential office.

The US president “reaffirmed our shared commitment to seeing Hamas defeated and to ensuring the long-term security of Israel and its people,” according to the statement issued by the White House.

The two leaders “agreed to remain in close contact.”

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