Biden calls on Israel not to risk the safety of 1.5 million with planned offensive in Rafah amid Hamas war

Joe Biden yesterday called on Israel not to “proceed” with military action in southern Gaza without making plans for the evacuation of Palestinian civilians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting international warnings over his army’s planned offensive in Rafah amid the war with Hamas.

According to the White House, Biden told Netanyahu last night that the Israeli military “must not move forward without a credible and actionable plan to ensure the safety and support of the more than one million people sheltering there.”

But Netanyahu has dismissed concerns about civilian casualties in Rafah, declaring: “Victory is within reach.”

He insisted there would be no turning back, despite the uproar over the huge death toll and the loss of two more hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting international warnings over his army’s planned offensive in Rafah amid the war with Hamas

Netanyahu also admitted there were ongoing “differences” with Mr Biden, but defended the US president, whose memory is in question, saying he found him “clear and focused”.

Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, is Hamas’s last remaining stronghold after four months of fighting since the October 7 massacre in Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and at least 250 kidnapped.

But international unrest has grown over the well-being of civilians in the region, which is home to some 1.5 million Palestinians displaced by the conflict.

In addition to the risk that military action poses, there are also desperate shortages of food and medical care for non-combatants.

British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron expressed concern about the next phase of Israel’s military operation on .

“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, and then make progress toward a lasting, permanent ceasefire.”

Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove reiterated the Foreign Secretary’s warning on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg program on Sunday, saying that while it was “absolutely right to tackle the terrorist threat”, the Palestinian people “need help and support and deserves’.

Labor Foreign Secretary David Lammy tweeted on Friday that an Israeli offensive in Rafah would be “catastrophic.”

According to the latest figures from the Hamas-led Ministry of Health in Gaza, the total Palestinian death toll is over 28,000.

At least 44 people, including more than a dozen children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Rafah on Saturday.

Palestinians inspect damaged apartment buildings after Israeli attacks in Rafah, Gaza on February 11

At least 44 people, including more than a dozen children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Rafah on Saturday

According to the latest figures from the Hamas-led Ministry of Health in Gaza, the total Palestinian death toll is over 28,000.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, said on the same day that two Israeli hostages had been killed and another eight seriously injured in airstrikes over the past 96 hours.

Mr Netanyahu yesterday stressed that efforts have been made to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, including by dropping kites and calling Palestinian civilians to evacuate combat zones, since the Israel Defense Force launched its retaliatory raid.

But he reiterated that this is hampered by the use of civilians as human shields.

Speaking on ABC News’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, the Israeli leader, who has rejected Hamas’s latest ceasefire proposals, said: ‘I think we are doing the right thing. And let me tell you something else: We’re going to win this case. Victory is within reach.’

Asked about the pleas of the hostages’ families to hand over negotiations to a party “committed to saving their lives,” he added that 110 people had been released “because we applied military pressure, not because we quit’.

He also supported President Biden, who was described by a special counsel last week as an “older man with a bad memory” who could not remember when his son died.

Mr. Netanyahu said that during a dozen extended phone conversations and President Biden’s recent wartime visit to Israel, he had “found him very clear and very focused.”

The Israeli leader added: “Sometimes we had disagreements, but they did not arise from a lack of understanding on his part.”

Hamas freed more than 100 Israeli and other foreign hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of about 240 Palestinian prisoners during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

Israel’s chief military spokesman, Vice Admiral Daniel Hagari, said last week that 31 of the remaining hostages were dead. About 136 people remain detained in Gaza.