Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu held call with US president after Egypt threatened to suspend peace treaty with Israel if it sends troops into the Gaza border town.
Israel should not go ahead with a military operation in the densely populated Gaza border town of Rafah without a “credible” plan to protect civilians, US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the White House said.
The threat to suspend the Camp David Accords, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century, came after Netanyahu said sending troops into Rafah was necessary to win the four-month war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. He asserted that Hamas still has four battalions there.
More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled to Rafah to escape fighting in other areas, and they are packed into sprawling tent camps and UN-run shelters near the border. Egypt fears a mass influx of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who may never be allowed to return.
Netanyahu told the Fox News Sunday programme that there is “plenty of room north of Rafah for them to go to” after Israel’s offensive elsewhere in Gaza, and said Israel would direct evacuees with “fliers, with cellphones and with safe corridors and other things”.
A ground operation in Rafah could cut off one of the only avenues for delivering Gaza’s badly needed food and medical supplies.
Hamas’ Al-Aqsa television station quoted an unnamed Hamas official as saying that any invasion of Rafah would “blow up” talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar aimed at achieving a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.
All three officials confirmed Egypt’s threats, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief reporters on the sensitive negotiations.
