Israel Has Presented A Plan Regarding The Evacuation Of Civilians From Rafah. How the White House comments

According to the political and military leadership in Israel, the Rafah operation is aimed at eliminating the last bastion of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. However, the US and the UN are concerned about the much-touted operation as it could cause a massacre of innocent people. Ori Rafah is both a critical entry point for international aid into Gaza and a place that hosts approximately 1.5 million refugees crammed into camps, shelters and makeshift homes.

POLITICO writes that the plan has been presented to both the Biden administration and organizations delivering aid to Rafah. The Israeli side’s proposal is to transfer the population to Al-Mawasi, a town on the southern coast of the Gaza Strip. The proposal is not final, and discussions continue between the Israeli and American sides.

Officials quoted on condition of anonymity by The Associated Press say the plan presented by the Israelis “did not change the view of the US administration”, namely that launching the Rafah operation would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.

“In the absence of such a plan, we could not sustain the major military operation in Rafah,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday night in an intervention at the Sedona Forum, an event organized in Arizona under the auspices of the McCain Institute.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday that the Israelis had not yet presented “a full plan” for the Rafah operation, but the US was continuing talks with Israel to protect “innocent people”. The UN estimates that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians are at risk of dying if the Israeli operation in Rafah is launched.

The reports of Israel’s plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah come as CIA Director William Burns is in Egypt trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

According to the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, which cites the American publication The Wall Street Journal, Israel has said that Hamas has a week to accept a deal on the hostages, otherwise it will launch the Rafah operation.

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