Israel is updating its plans for a military advance on Rafah to align with the requirements and preferences of the US, according to The Times of Israel.
Responding to the question of whether Israel can carry out an advance in the city of Rafah that would not cause concern for the Biden administration, a senior White House official said that Jerusalem is on the right track for this.
"It’s fair to say that the Israelis have updated their plans. They’ve incorporated many of the concerns that we have expressed," the official said, while not giving a full green light to the plans of the Israel Defense Forces.
For several months now, the US has been against a large-scale military operation in Rafah, warning that there is no way to carry it out to save nearly 1.5 million Palestinian refugees who have found shelter in the city.
In recent weeks, Israel has begun issuing evacuation orders for a significant portion of the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, forcing almost two-thirds of the population to flee to humanitarian zones in the south and west. But the US, as before, is concerned that Israel lacks humanitarian systems capable of caring for such a large number of people who have taken refuge in areas flattened by bombings, unlike the slightly more developed infrastructure of Rafah.
Instead, a senior Biden administration official was less critical of Israeli efforts.
"I have to say after coming out of Israel these past couple of days… it is pretty clear that the Israelis are taking those concerns seriously," the official said.
He also noted that the situation in Rafah has changed dramatically in recent weeks, given the mass evacuation of Palestinians.
Israel's advance on Rafah
During more than six months of military operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have liberated most of the enclave from Hamas terrorists and have come close to the city of Rafah in the south of the region near the border with Egypt.
However, the European Union and the US have openly criticized Israel's intentions to attack Rafah and accused the country of human rights violations due to the large number of civilian casualties.
The US does not support the IDF's military operations in Rafah without a plan to protect the civilian population. The White House also demands to limit operations in the city instead of a full-scale invasion.
Nevertheless, the Israeli army has already begun assault operations the outskirts of the southern city.
