Israeli PM promises Rafah invasion despite White House opposition

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israel would continue working to secure the release of all hostages and the elimination of Hamas. He added that achieving victory in Gaza would require Israeli forces to enter Rafah and annihilate the terrorist forces there. “This will happen; there is a date,” he said.

Why does the White House oppose this? The White House last week said Biden administration officials had engaged in discussions with Israel and expressed concerns about certain courses of action in Rafah. But both U.S. and Israeli officials agreed during that discussion that eliminating Hamas forces in Rafah was a priority, according to the White House. Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden said in an MSNBC Interview that Israel invading Rafah would be crossing a “red line.” He added after saying that he would not quit supporting Israel if it crossed that “red line.”

How are talks about a potential cease-fire going? A marathon session of cease-fire and hostage release discussions in Cairo lasted late until Monday night, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a press briefing Tuesday. He did not mention any breakthroughs in the discussions. He did say Israel had put more on the table in those discussions than in previous ones, but Hamas had not yet responded to the current cease-fire proposal. He did note that officials had seen public statements from the Gaza-based terrorist group that he called less-than-encouraging.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s discussion with Itamar Marcus on The World and Everything in It podcast about the situation in Gaza six months into the war.