The US believes that Israel could achieve its military objectives in Gaza without an invasion of the city of Rafah, which Washington will not support, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. The statement was made on Friday at a news conference following a summit of G7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted his country will conduct a military operation in Rafah, despite concerns over the potential civilian death toll. Members of the Israeli government, including Netanyahu, have maintained that the Jewish state cannot achieve its primary stated goal of defeating the Palestinian militant group Hamas without entering Rafah.
“We believe that a major military operation with a large presence of civilian population would have terrible consequences for that population,” Blinken told journalists. “We have been very clear about this …We cannot support a major military operation in Rafah,” he said.
The US, a key supplier of military aid to Israel, has been expressing concerns that an operation in Rafah would cause significant civilian casualties. Blinken pointed out there are currently around 1.4 million people in the city, which is located next to the Egyptian border, many of whom have been displaced from other parts of Gaza.
“We are committed, as Israel is, to ensuring that Gaza cannot be controlled by Hamas … Making sure that Hamas cannot repeat the events of October 7 … But in terms of major military operations in Rafah, it’s something that we don’t support and we believe that the objective can be achieved by other means,” Blinked stated.