President Biden stated on Monday that the most important floor offensive that Israel is predicted to hold out within the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah mustn’t proceed with no “credible plan” to make sure the protection of greater than 1 million folks sheltering there.
Mr. Biden spoke after assembly on Monday afternoon with King Abdullah II of Jordan, a key determine within the push for a cease-fire within the Gaza Strip, within the first face-to-face dialog between the 2 leaders because the Israel-Hamas struggle began.
The president stated he and the Jordanian monarch mentioned the cease-fire talks, with Mr. Biden suggesting a six-week pause within the preventing that might enable for the discharge of hostages held by Hamas and the forging of one thing “more enduring.”
Mr. Biden stated he was notably involved in regards to the scenario in Rafah, the place Israeli forces carried out a uncommon rescue mission early on Monday to free two males held hostage for greater than 4 months, and displaced Gazans worry an invasion that may go away them nowhere to flee.
“Many people there have been displaced, displaced multiple times fleeing the violence to the north,” Mr. Biden stated. “And now they’re packed into Rafah, exposed and vulnerable. They need to be protected.”
The go to got here because the king sought to shore up worldwide assist for a direct cease-fire in Gaza — which Mr. Biden has repeatedly rejected — and because the U.S. continued to use stress on Israel to mitigate casualties and civilian displacements.
King Abdullah stated an Israeli invasion of Rafah was “certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe.”
“The situation is already unbearable for over a million people who had been pushed into Rafah since the war started,” he stated. “We cannot stand by and let this continue. We need a lasting cease-fire now. This war must end.”
Ahead of the assembly, John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, stated that the U.S. continued to reject the concept of a common cease-fire that will completely halt the preventing, however that President Biden additionally nonetheless supported a humanitarian pause.
“We want to see the war end as soon as possible,” he stated. “And we believe one of the first steps that’s critical to doing that is a humanitarian pause, an extended pause longer than what we saw back in November of a week, that would allow us to get all the hostages out, get more aid and assistance in, and then hopefully lead to discussions that can get us closer to an end to the conflict.”
Egypt and Qatar, appearing as intermediaries between Israel and Hamas, have led talks geared toward halting the preventing and releasing hostages held in Gaza. The Biden administration has been actively concerned in these negotiations, working publicly and behind the scenes to attempt to advance a cease-fire deal.
The C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, was anticipated to journey to Cairo for continued talks on Tuesday on the hostages, in keeping with a U.S. official who spoke on situation of anonymity in regards to the talks. Mr. Burns’s deliberate journey was disclosed by a U.S. official, who spoke on situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel final week publicly dismissed a Hamas proposal, Israeli officers have signaled that their authorities remains to be open to negotiation. The mere indisputable fact that extra talks shall be going down in Cairo this week is seen as a constructive signal.
Ahead of the assembly between Mr. Biden and King Abdullah, the White House stated they might talk about “efforts to produce an enduring end to the crisis” in Gaza, the place well being officers say greater than 28,000 folks have been killed because the begin of the struggle.
Much of Jordan’s inhabitants is ethnically Palestinian, placing the nation — a detailed U.S. ally that has a peace treaty with Israel — in a tough place because it navigates the fallout from the struggle.
King Abdullah has repeatedly referred to as for a direct cease-fire and for the supply of extra humanitarian assist into Gaza. He led a summit assembly in Jordan final month in regards to the scenario within the enclave and has been working in live performance with different Arab leaders to push for a halt to the preventing.
Jordan and Israel share a border, along with sustaining an important regional alliance. The kingdom is the custodian of the Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, a key holy web site in Islam that can also be revered by Jews, who name it the Temple Mount. The compound has typically been a supply of disputes between Israelis and Palestinians.
But relations between Jordan and Israel grew tenser in recent times. And since Israel launched a retaliatory struggle towards Hamas in Gaza in response to the lethal Oct. 7 assaults, King Abdullah has repeatedly criticized how Israel has carried out its assault.
