WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Monday urgently warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as the divide between the two leaders continues to grow along with the mounting Palestinian death toll.
This combination photo shows President Joe Biden, left, on March 8, 2024, in Wallingford, Pa., and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. Biden and Netanyahu spoke Monday, May 6, 2024, a White House official and National Security Council spokesperson said, as Israel appeared closer to launching an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That move is staunchly opposed by the US on humanitarian grounds.
“The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that started after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200. Some 250 people were also taken hostage in the brazen attack.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel would continue its operations in Gaza as officials deliberate the cease-fire proposal approved by Hamas. And the Israeli War Cabinet voted unanimously to approve a Rafah military operation but said it would continue cease-fire efforts. “Bill Burns is looking at that response. He’s talking to the Israelis about it,” Kirby told reporters. “And we’ll see where this goes. Hopefully, it can lead to those hostages getting out real, real soon.”
Following his call with Netanyahu, Biden hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan for a private lunch meeting at the White House for talks on the war and hostage talks. Jordan’s embassy in Washington said in a posting on the social media site X after the meeting that Abdullah warned that an Israeli operation on Rafah “threatens to lead to a new massacre.”
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