Sullivan called for pressure on Hamas to stop the war (Reuters)
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza is more difficult than Washington had hoped. He also touched on the Israeli attack on the Shifa Medical Complex and the threats to invade Rafah in his statements on Monday.
Sullivan said - during a press conference - that Israel has not yet presented any plan to protect civilians in Rafah, noting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to send a team to Washington to discuss the planned military operation there.
He added, "We expect that Israel will not move forward with the Rafah operation before we meet together to make preparations for that," stressing that any major ground operation will deepen the chaos in Gaza, he said.
He continued, "Hamas should not have any safe haven, but our position is that any military operation there will be a mistake," noting that there are ways that enable Israel to win the war and maintain its security - as he put it - without invading Rafah.
Sullivan's statements came after US President Joe Biden and the Israeli Prime Minister, on Monday, made their first phone call since February 15, amid tension and altercation of statements.
The US National Security Advisor said that Biden and Netanyahu discussed the situation in Gaza, and added that the President affirmed his commitment to Israel’s security, as he put it.
Washington says that any attack on Rafah requires a “credible” plan to protect more than a million Palestinians seeking refuge in the city, and indicated that it has not yet received such a plan from Israel.
However, on Sunday, Netanyahu renewed his emphasis on readiness to invade Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, saying that international pressure will not prevent the implementation of that attack, which will take a few weeks, he said. He also criticized what he called friends in the international community.
A call to put pressure on Hamas
On the other hand, Sullivan said that Israel destroyed a large number of Hamas brigades, which, according to his claim, resulted in the killing of thousands of its fighters, including Marwan Issa, referring to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, which the Israeli army recently announced was targeting. , but without a confirmed announcement regarding his fate.
The American official added that there is a need for more pressure on Hamas in order to stop the war.
The United States is the main supporter of Israel in its war on Gaza, politically and militarily, as it used its veto in the UN Security Council several times to block resolutions calling for a ceasefire, and also supplied the Israeli army with thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition.
At the same time, Sullivan said that Biden stressed that Israel must do everything in its power to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, noting that the recent United Nations report on famine in the Strip is “worrying.”
He added that the United States continues to work to build the temporary dock it announced on the Gaza coast to deliver aid.
Regarding the Israeli attack on Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City on Monday, Sullivan repeated what the occupation army said, which spoke about the presence of senior Hamas officials in the complex.
The American official added, "Hamas has returned to the Shifa complex, which raises questions about how to prevent it from regaining lost sites."
He said that Hamas fighters from the complex responded to the Israeli army shooting.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the death and wounding of a number of Palestinians as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Al-Shifa Complex.
The Israeli army also assassinated the Gaza Police Central Operations Officer, Brigadier General Faiq al-Mabhouh, while forces stormed the Shifa complex.
Al-Mabhouh was responsible for bringing aid into the northern Gaza Strip in coordination with the Palestinian tribes and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Source: Al Jazeera