White House Middle East Affairs Coordinator Brett McGurk (Reuters)

The American website "Axios" said that White House Middle East Affairs Coordinator Brett McGurk is expected to visit Israel and Egypt this week, to discuss the possible Israeli operation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

The website quoted American and Israeli officials as saying that McGurk is expected to meet with the director of the Egyptian Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel, and other Egyptian officials, tomorrow, Wednesday, and then with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and other Israeli officials next Thursday.

The website added that McGurk will also discuss efforts made to secure the release of the hostages.

The White House is deeply concerned that a possible Israeli military operation in Rafah, where more than 1,400,000 Palestinians are concentrated - most of whom were displaced from other places in Gaza - would lead to significant human losses.

Attack on Rafah

Axios reported that the Israeli army has prepared the plan for the ground military operation in Rafah, and is expected to present it to the security ministerial council this week, but it noted that Israeli and American officials have acknowledged that the start of the Rafah operation will not take place for several weeks, and it may be after RAMADAN month; That is, in mid-April.

The website also quoted Israeli officials as saying that they need to move forward with the Rafah operation to dismantle four brigades affiliated with the Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but they will not do so without coordination with the United States and Egypt.

Biden told Netanyahu in phone calls last week that he opposed such an operation without a “credible and implementable plan” to evacuate Palestinian civilians from the city.

The website indicated that the United States and Egypt also fear that such an operation would push tens of thousands of Palestinians across the Egyptian border into the Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian-American consultations

In the same context, yesterday, Monday, Egypt and the United States held consultations in Cairo on ways to end the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing since last October 7.

This came during a meeting between the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, and a delegation from the US House of Representatives, according to what Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid reported, via the ministry’s account on the X platform.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of Genocide.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies + American press