Netanyahu confirmed the attack on Rafah and announced a delegation to the United States to discuss the details.

Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin NetanyahuIt confirmed on Tuesday that, despite requests from the international community – particularly the United States – it would order the army to launch an offensive. Rafah, south of Gaza. According to him, still is Four Hamas strongholds That, if not eliminated, “they will regroup and retake the Strip and, of course, pose a new threat to Israel.”

This position is against the American president, Joe Bidenwho had expressed his opposition to this military maneuver from the beginning and had been persuading his comrades to abandon the idea for weeks.

A day earlier, White House National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan declared that “the president once again denied that expressing concern about Rafah is tantamount to questioning the need to end Hamas” and asserted that “There will be major ground operations that go wrong and more civilian deaths.”

.

That is why, he added, “the objectives Israel wants to achieve in Rafah can be achieved through other means.

As a result of his concern about the fragile humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave and the high risks that still exist there, Biden asked his counterpart to discuss in detail his plans to send a delegation of “military, intelligence and humanitarian affairs experts” to Washington. strip

In the last hours, Netanyahu confirmed that he would grant the request and would allow Washington to present “his ideas.” “We agreed on the manner in which they could present their ideas to us, particularly in relation to the humanitarian aspect, of course. We share the desire to allow the population to evacuate in an orderly manner and to assist the civilian population“, the official commented and explained that the delegation would be composed of Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer; that National Security Advisor, Zachi Hanegbi; and representative of COGATThe arm of the Ministry of Defense that deals with civilian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza.

However, he insisted that, in their earlier conversation, more than a month later, without speaking, “I made it clear to the President that We are determined to eliminate that battalion in Rafah and there is no other way than to do it by land.“

Amid these announcements, White House Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed that he would embark on his sixth trip to the Middle East in an effort to facilitate talks between Israel and Hamas, which again appear to have stalled.

Thus, the American diplomatic chief will travel this week Saudi Arabia And Egypt, without stopping in Tel Aviv, as on previous occasions. The local Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said it had not received any instructions to prepare for his arrival.

During his trip, spokesman Matthew Miller reported, Blinken will “address efforts to achieve an immediate cease-fire agreement that guarantees the release of all remaining hostages, intensify international efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and coordinate the post-conflict in Gaza.”

while, Queue This week continues to do the same, prompting a new round of talks. A day earlier, an Israeli delegation led by the head of the Mossad flew to Doha to continue talks, although no results are expected for at least two weeks.

A Palestinian official close to the discussions confirmed that he expects the meetings to be “very difficult” as no consensus has been reached on the details of the plan.

(With information from EFE and Reuters)