United States Minister of Foreign Affairs Antony Blinken on Wednesday emphasized that the United States again opposes Israel’s military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Blinken held talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the final leg of his regional tour to push for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster, KAN, Blinken told Netanyahu that the US opposed military operations in the territory that is home to more than 1.4 million Palestinian refugees at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip.
The US secretary of state also called for more action to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave, according to KAN.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Blinken “reaffirmed the United States’ clear position on Rafah.”
The talks between the two sides discussed ongoing efforts to immediately reach a ceasefire in Gaza as part of the agreement regarding the hostage taking.
They also discussed the importance of accelerating and sustaining increased aid flows to the region, Miller said in a statement.
Blinken spoke with Netanyahu about “the need to avoid further expansion of the conflict” into the region, Miller said.
Despite international opposition, Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the Israeli army would attack Rafah with or without a hostage deal with Hamas.
Rafah is the last remaining territory in the region where Israel has not officially announced the entry of its troops to continue its onslaught against Palestinians.
Blinken has visited Saudi Arabia and Jordan in a series of visits to the region amid reports of a possible ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, which is believed to be holding nearly 130 Israelis hostage, is demanding an end to ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza in return for a hostage deal with Tel Aviv.
Israel has launched relentless attacks on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 that killed around 1,200 people.
More than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and thousands more injured due to mass destruction and shortages of basic necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling siege on the territory, leaving much of its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the brink of starvation.
More than six months into Israel’s war, much of Gaza has been destroyed, forcing 85 percent of the area’s population to flee amid a blockade that has crippled food, clean water and medicine, according to the United Nations.
Israel is also accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICJ’s interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to halt genocidal acts and take action to ensure that humanitarian aid is provided to civilians in Gaza. (Z-8
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