US opposes Israel's Rafah invasion plan but Netanyahu is rigid — official

Washington DC — The Biden administration is locked in a tense standoff with hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the fate of Rafah, a Palestinian city in southern Gaza where more than 1.5 million residents have taken refuge after fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere, a senior American official told TRT World.

"Biden administration is pushing Netanyahu not to proceed with a final operation in Rafah. That continues to be our stance — in no uncertain terms," a Biden administration official told TRT World on Thursday on the condition of anonymity.

"Within the administration, there has been very stiff opposition to the [Rafah] operation, with various top officials raising concerns in internal meetings about the humanitarian consequences such an Israeli operation could unleash on civilians." the official said.

As Israel signals its readiness for a ground invasion of Rafah, a densely populated area flooded with forcibly displaced Palestinians, the US official challenged the assertion that the invasion plans have been finalised.

"It is our understanding that a final date has not been set by Israel [despite Netanyahu's public statements] for a ground offensive into Rafah at least one that's been communicated to us by the Israelis," the official added.

A critical juncture

The Israeli leader's stance appears to be influenced by domestic political pressures, particularly from his extremist coalition partners, which include far-right and ultranationalist factions staunchly opposed to making concessions to Palestine.

This internal political dynamic in Israel complicates the US strategy, which aims at exploring alternative methods without resorting to extensive military invasion that risks high civilian casualties.

The upcoming visit of an Israeli delegation to the US is expected to be a critical juncture for discussing these alternatives.

President Biden has declared that an attack on Rafah would be a grave error, reflecting a stark divergence in views with Netanyahu on how best to manage the ongoing invasion of Gaza.

"Israel will complete the elimination of Hamas' brigades, including in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and nothing will prevent this," Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday, amid global pleas against it.

Hamas has meanwhile reported that it was evaluating a new truce proposal amid ongoing negotiations in Cairo, though the proposal fell short of meeting its demands.

The UN as well as many countries including Israel's ally US fear that invasion of Rafah will skyrocket deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza where Israel has already killed more than 33,500 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children, and wounded more than 76,000. A vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced by Israeli war that followed October 7 blitz by Hamas.

The Palestinian resistance group says its surprise raids on Israeli military and settlements were a response to near-daily Israeli assaults on the Al Aqsa Mosque, violence by illegal Zionist settlers in the occupied West Bank, 17-year siege of Gaza, and an effort to refocus international attention on the Palestinian cause.

The hours-long raid and Israeli military's haphazard reaction resulted in the killings of more than 1,130 people, Israeli officials and local media say. Palestinian fighters took more than 250 hostages and presently 130 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli army says are dead, some of them said to be victims of indiscriminate Israeli strikes.

Biden supported Israel staunchly in the early days of its war. But as the Palestinian death toll rose and the war brought protesting Americans to the streets, his administration began pushing for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid access.