Blinken warns against Rafah offensive amid fresh push for Gaza truce
CAIRO (MNP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday a major military operation by Israel in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah would be “a mistake”, adding that a truce agreement was “possible”.
Blinken said “gaps are narrowing” in ongoing ceasefire and hostage release talks in Qatar, where the head of Israel’s spy agency was due to meet his American and Egyptian counterparts Friday.
“It’s difficult to get there, but I believe it is still possible,” Blinken said in a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo.
Blinken also said there is “a better way to deal with the ongoing threat posed by Hamas” than Israel’s plans for a major military operation in Rafah.
Global concern has surged over a looming Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, where 1.5 million mostly displaced Palestinians are sheltering, hemmed in by the Egyptian border.
He said the ground offensive would be “unnecessary” and that “there is no place for the civilians amassed in Rafah to get out of harm’s way”.
“There is a false choice involved here … Hamas can be effectively dealt with without a major ground operation in Rafah,” Blinken continued.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry echoed the call for a “ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees” and an urgent “intensifying of aid operations in light of an unprecedented situation”.
