Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken that Israel could launch a ground offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city Rafah “alone” without U.S. backing.
Mr. Blinken met with the Israeli leader in Tel Aviv on March 22 and urged Israel not to invade Rafah, saying that such an action “risks wreaking greater havoc.”
“As we’ve said, though, a major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
“It risks killing more civilians, it risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance, it risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing.”
The State Department said that Mr. Blinken also discussed with Mr. Netanyahu efforts to reach a deal for a six-week ceasefire that would secure the release of hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“I told him that I hope we would do this with U.S. support, but if necessary—we will do it alone,” the Israeli leader stated.
“I also told him that we recognize the need to evacuate the civilian population from the combat zones and—of course—also see to the humanitarian needs, and we are working to this end.”
The Biden administration has been urging Israel to refrain from launching a major offensive in Rafah until a plan for the mass evacuation of civilians from the last area of Gaza is created. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering in the Rafah area.
The vote in the 15-member council was 11 members in favor and three against, including Algeria, the Arab representative on the council. There was one abstention, from Guyana.
Explaining his veto decision on March 22, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said this latest U.S.-backed ceasefire resolution does not explicitly order a ceasefire but merely states that such a ceasefire is “imperative.” Mr. Nebenzia said this language is “not enough” and the council must “demand a ceasefire.”
The U.N. summary states that the resolution also directly condemns “all acts of terrorism including the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October, the taking and killing of hostages, murder of civilians, sexual violence and condemns the use of civilian buildings for military purposes.”
Additionally, the U.S.-backed resolution demands that the Hamas terrorist group allow humanitarian organizations access to all remaining hostages whom Hamas is holding in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people and abducted another 250 people in the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that triggered the war. It is believed to still be holding about 134 people hostage.
In Gaza, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry raised the death toll in the territory on March 21 to nearly 32,000 people. The agency does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
