Netanyahu approves Rafah military operation

WASHINGTON (CN) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a military operation in the densely packed city of Rafah and, despite President Joe Biden calling such an offensive a “red line,” the White House is noncommittal on its response.

Over the past month, Biden administration officials have said they won’t support a major offensive in Rafah without a credible plan for the refugees. But they’ve been reticent to articulate any consequences Israel would face for moving forward, a tactic they continued to employ Friday.

“As far as I know, there’s not been an operation in Rafah. What we’ve seen today is the prime minister’s office saying that they have seen a plan that accounts for the operational aspect, the military aspect and the evacuation aspect,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday. “We still can’t get behind a plan and we won’t get behind a plan that doesn’t properly account for those million and a half refugees in Gaza who need a place to go where they can be safe from the fighting.”

Rafah is the sole border crossing between the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. It is where more than 1.5 million refugees have fled from the rest of Gaza as Israel continues its war against Hamas since the latter’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Egypt has stymied the flow of refugees through the border to avoid a crisis in the Sinai Peninsula, leaving many camped out at the crossing with nowhere else to go.

Israel’s military has been working on a plan to move into Rafah for more than a month and Netanyahu’s office said Friday it approved the operation. Kirby said that Washington hasn’t seen a plan to evacuate the refugees, but would not say if the U.S. has directly asked for evidence of such a plan.

“We’re going to keep talking to the Israelis about this,” he said. “If they’ve got that plan, we certainly would welcome the opportunity to see it.”

The news came a day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Israel to hold new parliamentary elections to usher in a new government, saying Netanyahu is a major obstacle to peace.

Biden, who has publicly and privately grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu, has not said if he agrees with Schumer. His only remark Friday was that Schumer “made a good speech, and I think he expressed serious concern shared not only by him, but by many Americans."

Although tensions have continued to rise between the U.S. and Israel as the latter continues its war in the Gaza Strip, the disagreements haven’t led to any substantial change in U.S. policy to provide military support for Israel.

The war is in response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas where militants killed roughly 1,200 people and took at least 240 hostages. Since then, Israel has launched a brutal invasion of Gaza, an operation that so far has killed more than 30,000 people. 

Kirby said the fact that Washington hasn’t been privy to Israel’s plans for Rafah doesn’t signal a turning point in the countries’ relationship. He also signaled Washington has no plans to halt or put stipulations on monetary and military aid to Israel in response to the news.

“Israel has a right to go after Hamas wherever they are. We get that. We’re going to continue to support their opportunity to do that,” he said. “But as we’ve said 100 times if not more, they have a special obligation as well to look after the safety and security of the innocent people of Gaza who are caught up in this conflict.”

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