Israel’s military operations have killed more than 32,000 people (file photo)
Jerusalem:
Israel wants to reschedule talks in Washington to discuss a possible offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. Israel canceled the trip days earlier in protest against a U.N. ceasefire resolution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily canceled a visit on Monday after the United States, Israel’s closest ally, abstained from a U.N. Security Council vote, allowing the resolution to pass and deepening tensions with President Joe Biden. differences between.
But Israel backed down after the White House said it was “confused” by the move.
“The prime minister’s office said they want to reschedule a meeting specifically for Rafah. We are now working with them to set a convenient date,” the senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The U-turn comes after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant held “constructive discussions” with senior U.S. officials in Washington over the past two days, the official added.
“Rafa was one of many topics discussed” during the meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA Director Bill Burns and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Last week, Netanyahu agreed to Biden’s personal request to send a team to Washington to listen to U.S. concerns and discuss how to combat Hamas without launching a massive ground operation in Rafah, which is crowded with refugees.
But after the U.N. Security Council voted to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war, Israel said it would cancel the ceasefire, and the U.S. abstention “hurt” its war effort and efforts to free the hostages.
The White House said Monday it was “a little confused” and “very disappointed” by the cancellation.
The United States also insisted that the abstention did not represent a change in policy toward Israel.
But as the civilian death toll in Gaza continues to mount and the humanitarian situation for Palestinians becomes increasingly dire, Biden has expressed growing frustration with Netanyahu.
The U.S. president recently said he needed to have a “come to Jesus meeting” with the Israeli prime minister about the situation.
Israel has launched a relentless offensive in Gaza after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian group Hamas that killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli data.
Some 130 people are believed to still be held hostage in Gaza following the attack.
According to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled areas, Israeli military operations have killed more than 32,000 people, mostly women and children.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
