White House, “No Entry into Rafah without Prior Agreement with the U.S.”
Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, has called for U.S. intervention, anticipating an Israeli attack on Rafah in a few days.
According to BBC on the 28th (local time), President Abbas, during a special meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, emphasized, “Israel will attack Rafah in a few days” and “The only country that can stop Israel’s Rafah operation is the U.S., so we appeal to the U.S. to request Israel to halt the Rafah operation.”
“All the residents of the Gaza Strip are gathered in Rafah, and we don’t know what will happen in a few days if Rafah is attacked,” he said, emphasizing that even a minor attack on Rafah will force the residents of Palestine to leave the Gaza Strip, which will be the biggest disaster in Palestinian history.”
John Kirby, national security communications advisor at the National Security Council, told in an interview with ABC TV that the Israeli government had assured him they would not attack Rafah without prior consultation with the U.S. He said, “They promised not to enter Rafah before sharing our views and concerns.”
The Israeli military has argued that it needs to enter Rafah to achieve war objectives such as rooting out Hamas combatants, rescuing hostages, and eliminating security threats. The Israeli military’s goal is to end the war after destroying this area for the expulsion of Hamas. However, the international community, including the U.S., is concerned about civilian casualties if urban warfare breaks out, as over half of the entire population of the Gaza Strip, about 1.4 million residents, have sought refuge in the area.
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