DM Gallant reportedly contradicts Netanyahu, tells US Defense Sec Austin ‘no date set for Rafah operation’
Sullivan says ‘no credible, executable plan shared with us’ regarding Rafah
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel has not set a firm date for its incursion into Rafah during their phone call on Monday evening, according to an Axios report.
If true, this would contradict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public statement on Monday evening when he said the IDF needed to enter Rafah to achieve “total victory over Hamas.”
“This victory requires entering Rafah and eliminating the terrorist battalions there. This will happen; there is a date,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from hardline elements in his coalition to continue the war in Gaza until Hamas is eradicated as a governing authority.
Coalition members, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir both threatened the stability of the coalition if the operation in Rafah did not proceed. Several members of Netanyahu’s Likud party wrote a letter asking for a party meeting to discuss the hostage deal negotiations and their impact on the Gaza war, including the withdrawal of the majority of IDF troops from the coastal enclave.
However, Netanyahu has also faced increasing pressure from the Biden administration not to enter Rafah.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday that the Biden administration remains opposed to a Rafah operation and that Israel does not have “a credible plan.”
“I have not yet seen a credible and executable plan to move people that has any level of detail about how you not only house feed and provide medicine for those innocent civilians,” Sullivan said.
This came following his statement on Monday that Netanyahu had not shared any date for the Rafah operation with the United States.
“If he has a date, he hasn't shared it with us,” Sullivan said. “The United States does not believe that a massive ground invasion of Rafah, where 1.3 or more million people are sheltering, having been pushed out of other parts of Gaza...is not the best way forward.”
However, recent steps by the Netanyahu government suggest that it is preparing to enter Rafah.
On Sunday, Gallant said that Israeli “forces left the area [of Khan Younis] in order to prepare for their future missions, including their mission in Rafah.”
On the same day, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said: “We are far from stopping. Senior Hamas officials are still hiding. We will reach them sooner or later. We are advancing, continuing to eliminate more terrorists and commanders and destroy more terrorist infrastructure.”
“We will not leave any Hamas brigades active – in any part of the Gaza Strip,” Halevi continued.
On Tuesday, an Israeli official confirmed reports that the government was planning to purchase 40,000 tents to help evacuate Gaza civilians in Rafah to safe areas.
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The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
