Part of the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) in Tel Aviv with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (Anatolia)

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met in Tel Aviv on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before his participation in the Israeli War Council meeting. Israeli leaders warned of the dangers of the attack on Rafah and the lack of a plan for the day after the Gaza war.

Blinken concluded his sixth visit to Israel since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, where the US Secretary of State met separately with Minister Benny Gantz after the end of his meeting with the War Council at the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv.

Blinken discussed with the Israeli political and security leadership efforts to reach a ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli prisoners. He also discussed the possibility of achieving a permanent truce and ways to increase the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip.

At the conclusion of his visit, he said that he focused his conversation with the Israelis on the release of detainees, and said that "the closer we get to an agreement, the more difficult the negotiations will be."

Blinken added: Frank talks were held in Israel as they are among friends, and we made progress on the hostage talks and ended the gaps in the past two weeks.

The American minister stressed that the attack on Rafah will not achieve the goal sought by Israel and threatens to isolate it from the world.

Axios quoted a source as saying that Blinken warned Netanyahu and the war council that Israel's security and standing in the world were at risk.

The source added that Blinken warned that Israel would face a major rebellion that it could not deal with if it did not have a clear plan for the day after the war, stressing that Israel needs a coherent plan, otherwise it will remain stuck in Gaza.

Stick to the war

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is still determined to send forces to the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where more than a million Palestinians are seeking refuge, and will do so without American support if necessary.

Netanyahu added in a statement that he informed the US Secretary of State that there is no way to defeat the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) without entering Rafah.

He continued, "I told him that I hope we will do this with the support of the United States, but if we have to, we will do it alone."

In turn, War Council Minister Benny Gantz said that he thanked the US Secretary of State during his meeting for his support for Israel and for the United States’ deep commitment to its security.

Gantz added that he stressed to Blinken Israel's commitment to continuing the mission and dismantling Hamas' military infrastructure, including Rafah.

Demonstrations by detainees' families

In turn, the Hebrew newspaper "Haaretz" reported that dozens of Israelis demonstrated near the hotel where Blinken resides in Tel Aviv to demand an agreement to return Israeli prisoners from Gaza.

She added that dozens of demonstrators intermittently closed Yarkon Street in central Tel Aviv, near the hotel where the US Secretary of State resides.

In a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Cairo yesterday, Thursday, Blinken stressed “the need for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire with the release of the hostages.”

Israel holds at least 9,100 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official Palestinian sources, at a time when mystery surrounds the number of Israeli prisoners being held in Gaza due to Hamas’ refusal to reveal the number “without a heavy price.”

While the Hebrew media talks about 240 and 253 Israeli prisoners, including 3 who were liberated and 105 released by Hamas during an exchange deal last November, the Palestinian movement talks about the killing of 70 others as a result of the Israeli bombing.

A new round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel is continuing in Doha, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the participation of the United States, to reach a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal, with an ongoing Israeli war on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

The war on the Gaza Strip left tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, and a famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly, according to Palestinian and UN data, which led to Israel appearing for the first time before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies