White House says Netanyahu agrees to send delegation to US to discuss Rafah

WASHINGTON

Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send an Israeli interagency delegation to the US to discuss alternatives to his vowed invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the White House said Wednesday after the Israel premier abruptly cancelled the trip earlier this week.

Furious over the Biden administration's decision not to veto a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Netanyahu on Monday angrily cancelled the delegation's planned departure for Washington.

But White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said Netanhyahu's office has agreed to reschedule the visit with both Washington and Tel Aviv engaged in talks to finalize a new date that will "work for both sides."

"The prime minister's office said they want to reschedule this meeting so that we can talk about the Rafah operations. We welcome that. And we're going to work with their teams to make sure that happens," she told reporters at the White House.

Asked about Netanyahu's insistence on going ahead with the ground operation into the city where roughly 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge after being displaced elsewhere in Gaza, Jean-Pierre said: "They have agreed to come and have a discussion about that. That's important too."

"We can't miss the fact that there's an agreement to have a meeting here to talk about the Rafah operations," she said. "Conversations are happening. We're going to set this date in the upcoming days to have this meeting about the Rafah operations. We're going to share our side. They're going to share their side, and that's what you do."

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people.

More than 32,400 Palestinians have since been killed in the Palestinian territory, and nearly 74,800 have been injured besides causing mass destruction, displacement and starvation.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian assistance have pushed Gaza to the cusp of famine.