Washington——

Top Biden administration officials have urged Israeli Defense Minister Yov Galante to abandon plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinian civilians seek safety, as Israel’s conduct in the six-month Palestinian war sparks US-Israel tensions. Hamas.

In meetings on Monday and Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself while reiterating opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned attack on Gaza’s southernmost border city with Egypt. Maas launches a ground attack.

“Our goal [is] “Help Israel find alternatives to a sweeping and potentially premature military action that could jeopardize the military operations in Rafah,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity under ground rules. More than 1 million civilians have taken refuge.” By the Pentagon.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday that a large-scale ground operation in Rafah would further endanger the well-being of Palestinian civilians. He added that Blinken stressed to Galante that “alternatives exist” that would better ensure Israel’s security while protecting Palestinian civilians.

Amid looming famine in Gaza, Austin warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Palestinian enclave, saying civilian casualties were “too high” and aid delivery “too low”. His comments echoed Blinken’s call for Israel to “immediately increase and sustain” more aid.

Netanyahu’s government has denied accusations from international aid agencies and the United Nations that Israel is blocking aid and fomenting famine in Gaza as part of its strategy to root out Hamas.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan may have issued a similar warning. A meeting between Sullivan and Galante scheduled for Monday was extended by a day, a sign that negotiations could become complicated.

“They think it’s important to continue the dialogue,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Sullivan told reporters last week that President Joe Biden himself had warned Netanyahu that invading Rafah would be a mistake and urged him to develop a “coherent and sustainable strategy” to defeat Hamas.

“Don’t do it”

Netanyahu insists the goal of “total victory” against Hamas cannot be achieved without access to Rafah, which Israel says is home to four Hamas battalions of thousands of fighters.

The Biden administration initially said it would not support the Rafah offensive without adequate protection of civilians.

Now, they’re telling Israel, “Don’t do it,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former U.S. Middle East peace negotiator.

“The issue now is not making sure the people have some kind of protection,” he told VOA. “They just don’t want the Israelis to do that.”

Although Galante is under intense pressure this week, the decision on Rafah must be made by Israel’s war cabinet, which in addition to Galante also includes Netanyahu and former Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz and two observers – opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot and Netanyahu’s close adviser Ron Demer.

Galante’s meeting has been the main high-level consultation mechanism between the United States and its allies since Netanyahu abruptly canceled a planned visit by a separate delegation to Israel.

It was done in protest at Washington’s abstention at the United Nations to allow the Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Netanyahu accused the United States of changing its previous position on the release of hostages as a condition of ceasefire calls, but the U.S. government denied this.

more weapons

Galante, a security hawk who supports a ground operation in Rafah, aims to use his trip to Washington to bolster U.S. arms transfers. In a speech before his meeting with Austin, he said he wanted to “ensure Israel’s military superiority and capabilities.”

Brian Finucane, senior adviser for the U.S. program at the International Crisis Group, said Israel needs U.S. weapons not only to respond to operations in Gaza but also to prepare for further escalation with Lebanese Hezbollah in the north of the country. Since the Hamas attack on October 7, the two sides have exchanged fire with thousands of rockets and missiles.

“The United States has real leverage here,” Finucane told VOA. “The best-case scenario is that the United States does use its considerable leverage, whether unilaterally or multilaterally, to try to achieve a ceasefire.”

While Biden has begun using his abstention at the United Nations to leverage his diplomatic clout, he is unlikely to set or limit military aid to Israel as he aims to prevent the conflict from spreading.

“The last thing he wants to do is send a clear signal to Hezbollah and Iran that we are not prepared to support Israel if the situation on Israel’s northern border escalates,” Miller said.

He said Biden’s most fundamental goal now is to reach an agreement in the ceasefire negotiations in Qatar. Hamas said the hostages would be released only as part of a deal to end the war, while Israel said it would only discuss a temporary truce.

US supplies weapons to Israel

The United States has pledged to provide nearly $4 billion in annual aid to Israel through 2028, much of it in the form of military aid. The Foreign Military Financing Program provides approximately $3.3 billion annually, which Israel must use to purchase U.S. military equipment and services.

The government has quietly made more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began. A defense official, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military issue, said the arms transfers were handled without public debate because the administration broke down the sales package to amounts below the threshold that would require it to notify Congress.

Under pressure from Democratic lawmakers, last month Released by the White House A national security memorandum requires the U.S. secretary of state to “obtain credible and reliable written assurances” from foreign governments that the use of U.S. weapons is consistent with international and humanitarian law.

Grant met a Sunday deadline to deliver the written guarantees Israel needed. According to the memo, the State Department has until early May to formally assess and report to Congress whether the assurances are “credible and reliable.” Without it, Biden could choose to suspend further U.S. arms transfers.

So far, Biden has not signaled any intention to do so. Sullivan said the president “made no threats” in his call with Netanyahu last week. “Each of them recognizes that we are at a critical moment in this conflict.”

Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.