Israel intends to broaden its military operation in Rafah, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told a senior aide to US President Joe Biden, who has warned against major action in the southern Gazan city that may risk mass civilian casualties.
Israel describes Rafah, which abuts the Gaza Strip’s border with the Egyptian Sinai, as the last stronghold of Hamas Islamists whose governing and combat capabilities it has been trying to dismantle during the more than seven-month-old war.
After weeks of public disagreements with the US over its Rafah plan, on 6 May Israel ordered Palestinian civilians to evacuate parts of the city and began troop and tank incursions.
“We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages,” a statement from Mr Gallant’s office quoted him as telling visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Israel believes dozens of hostages from the cross-border Hamas attack on 7 October are being held in Rafah.
Western nations and Egypt have voiced concern for the fate of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering there, despite Israeli claims about humanitarian safeguards.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said that it estimated 810,000 people had fled Rafah since 6 May – potentially more than half of the city’s wartime population.
There was no immediate US comment on the Gallant talks.
The statement from Mr Gallant’s office said he “presented to Adviser Sullivan the provisions Israel implemented for evacuating the population from the Rafah area and for setting up the appropriate humanitarian response”.
Israel claimed its forces in Rafah have discovered dozens of tunnels from the Sinai, a potential embarrassment for Egypt.
The Egyptian state information service has previously dismissed speculation about cross-border smuggling to Gaza as “lies”.
