Smotrich: The way to return the kidnapped people in Gaza is to greatly increase the pressure and enter Rafah (Anatolia)

A video meeting is scheduled to be held today, Monday, between the United States and Israel regarding an attack that Tel Aviv intends to launch on the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, a week after canceling an official delegation’s visit to Washington, while Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stressed the importance of invading Rafah with American approval. Without it, as he put it.

An Israeli source said on condition of anonymity, “The meeting is scheduled for today (Monday). It will be held online. An in-person meeting may be held later this week.”

An American official confirmed that the meeting will be held virtually, and added, “We expect that follow-up meetings will be held in person after additional efforts by the two teams of experts.”

Tensions escalated between Israel and the United States, Israel's largest supporter, against the backdrop of the heavy toll of martyrs and wounded in Gaza, especially in relation to the Israeli ground campaign planned to be launched in the crowded city of Rafah in the far south of the Strip.

Israel had agreed to send a delegation to Washington to discuss the plan, but then canceled it due to the United States not using its veto in the Security Council against a resolution calling for a ceasefire.

The United States abstained from voting after delaying the adoption of resolutions calling for a ceasefire three times.

Smotrich presses on

In the same context, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “The way to return the kidnapped people in Gaza is to greatly increase the pressure and enter Rafah,” and stressed that “we must invade Rafah, with or without the approval of the United States.”

Smotrich added in a speech he delivered during a meeting of the parliamentary bloc of the “Religious Zionism” party that he chaired in the Knesset (Parliament), “The way to return the kidnapped people is to greatly increase military pressure and enter Rafah with or without American approval, until the (Islamic Resistance Movement) Hamas surrenders and the elimination (Head of the Hamas political bureau in Gaza, Yahya) Sinwar, and the return of all the kidnapped ones,” he said.

Many countries, including the United States, asked Israel not to carry out any military action in Rafah without ensuring the safe evacuation of more than a million Palestinian civilians.

The United States has repeatedly confirmed in recent weeks that Israel has not presented any reliable plan regarding the evacuation of civilians from Rafah.

On the other hand, Palestine today requested an emergency meeting of the Arab League Council regarding the Israeli threats to invade Rafah, and the continuation of the starvation policy committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.

A statement by the Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to the League, Ambassador Muhannad Al-Aklouk, said that the meeting aims to discuss the ongoing Israeli threats of an imminent invasion of the city of Rafah, which houses more than 1.5 million displaced people and Palestinian citizens.

The meeting will also discuss Israel's refusal to implement Security Council resolutions related to the ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the latest of which is Resolution No. 2728, which called for an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies