WASHINGTON (EFE).— The United States yesterday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to define a post-conflict plan for the Gaza Strip following he promised a quick calming of the offensive on the enclave.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed that Israeli authorities have conveyed the message that “the end of the intense combat operations” in Rafah, the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, is approaching.
“From our perspective, the important thing is to work on the plan for the day following the conflict because we do not want to see in Rafah what we saw in other areas where Hamas regained control following the end of operations,” Miller explained.
The US diplomatic spokesman said that a “lasting defeat” of the Islamist group requires a Palestinian-led governance plan for Gaza, a realistic security strategy and a reconstruction project for the Strip.
“To this end, we continue to work with our Arab partners in the region and continue to press the Israeli government to consider this,” he added.
Netanyahu said in an interview on Sunday that “the high-intensity phase of the war is going to end” and that it will happen very soon.
The prime minister said he was prepared for a partial agreement with Hamas to secure the return of some of the hostages still held in Gaza, but insisted he would not end the war until the Islamist group was destroyed.
For several days, military sources quoted by the Israeli press have been predicting that it will take at least three to four weeks to finish off the two Hamas battalions that are believed to be still intact in Rafah. It is not known what will happen next in this phase of the war.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of the offensive in October exceeded 37,600 yesterday, following one of the deadliest days last weekend with more than a hundred deaths.
Israeli Minister
This week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington. Following his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, he will speak with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said yesterday that he does not understand the complaints of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who accused the White House of slowing down the shipment of weapons to Israel.
“I don’t understand at all what that comment means, just as I didn’t understand similar statements he made last week,” the US diplomatic spokesman responded at a press conference.
Miller explained that while it is true that the United States has paused one arms shipment that is under review, the Biden administration continues to provide other weapons to Israel because it is “committed to its security.”
“There hasn’t been any change in that, so I’m not sure what those comments mean.”
Netanyahu said Sunday that regarding four months ago “there was a dramatic drop in the supply of weapons coming from the United States to Israel.”
That is why, he explained, he decided to make a public appeal last Tuesday, when he recorded himself in a video in English saying that it seemed “inconceivable” to him that the White House had retained the weapons.
According to the United States, the only shipment halted was 3,500 bombs in May because of their possible use in densely populated areas such as the city of Rafah, the southernmost part of Gaza.
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2024-07-04 00:46:09
