WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden again urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Israel on Monday appeared to be moving closer to an offensive to root out Hamas militants.
But soon after Israel announced that it was ordering about 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating from Rafah, Hamas said in a statement it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire to halt the seven-month-long war with Israel in Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the deal, and details of the proposal had not been released. A U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and insisted on anonymity, cautioned that the White House was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or to something else.
In recent days, Egyptian and Hamas officials have said the cease-fire would take place in a series of stages during which Hamas would release hostages it is holding in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. Talks were ongoing on Monday in Qatar.
Top Biden administration officials have been publicly pressing Hamas to accept what they have described as a generous offer by the Israelis that would also lead to an extended truce and the release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons and perhaps lay the groundwork for a permanent end to the current conflict.
The White House said Biden in a Monday morning phone call with Netanyahu underscored U.S. concerns about an invasion of Rafah, where more than 1 million civilians from other parts of Gaza are sheltering as the war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel has led to the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians and deprivation in the territory. Biden told Netanyahu that he still believes reaching a cease-fire with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, officials said.
“The President reiterated his clear position on Rafah,” according to a White House summary of the call.
The latest developments come as Biden was hosting King Abdullah II of Jordan for a private lunch meeting at the White House on Monday to discuss the war and hostage talks.
On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring: “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
“I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself,” he said, speaking in English. “Never again is now.”
The Israeli army ordered about 100,000 Palestinians on Monday to begin evacuating from Rafah, signaling that a ground invasion there could be imminent and further complicating efforts to broker a cease-fire.
Tensions escalated Sunday when Hamas fired rockets at Israeli troops positioned on the border with Gaza near Israel’s main crossing for delivering humanitarian aid, killing four soldiers. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes on Rafah killed 22 people, including children and two infants, according to a hospital.
Netanyahu also told Biden that he would ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel would remain open for humanitarian aid deliveries, according to the White House.
Israeli officials last week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had previously stressed with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that Israel needed a “credible plan” to evacuate those civilians and maintain humanitarian aid. Ryder said Austin had seen “the concepts” from the Israelis on their plan for an operation in Rafah “but nothing detailed at this point.”
Israeli officials said those being ordered evacuated would move from parts of Rafah to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast.
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AP writer Tara Copp contributed reporting.
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