The top US diplomat’s blunt message comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — following a meeting with Blinken — doubled down on his vow to carry out the military campaign with or without US support.
Blinken said he had “candid conversations” with Netanyahu and the Israeli war cabinet, and told them the US “shares Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas” — but that “a major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it”.
“It risks killing more civilians; it risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance,” Blinken added.
Blinken would not give details on the ongoing negotiations to secure an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz also told Blinken that “completing” Israel’s mission in Gaza, including in Rafah, is “imperative”.
Gantz, a key political rival of Netanyahu, told Blinken that Israel will “enable humanitarian solutions to aid civilians in Gaza” while “ensuring critical aid does not fall into the hands of Hamas”.
His remarks come amid growing international concern over an Israeli operation in Rafah in southern Gaza. There are an estimated 1.4 million people in the city, many of whom have been displaced several times from other parts of Gaza.
Israel launched its war on Gaza after an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border incursion by Hamas. It has since killed more than 32,000 Palestinians and pushed the territory to the brink of famine.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while most of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
