Netanyahu After Meeting with Blinken: We Will Enter Rafah Without U.S. Support if Necessary

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, stated on Friday after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv that Israel will enter Rafah without U.S. support if necessary. He expressed appreciation for U.S. assistance to Israel in the war against Hamas over the past five months and discussed the importance of evacuating civilians from war zones and meeting their needs during the meeting with Blinken. Netanyahu continued by saying he told Blinken that there is no other way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah and eliminating the remaining battalions of the group located there. He expressed hope that Israel would carry out this action with U.S. support, but "if necessary, we will do it alone." Blinken, prior to his 40-minute meeting with Netanyahu, mentioned that he would discuss the increasing rift between the two countries. He also met with members of Israel's war cabinet. The U.S. Secretary of State added that he would urge Netanyahu to take immediate steps to send more humanitarian aid to Gaza. Blinken arrived in the region on Wednesday for his sixth Middle Eastern trip since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and besides meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, he met with foreign ministers and officials from several Arab countries in Cairo, Egypt's capital. Meanwhile, on Friday, Doha, the capital of Qatar, hosted meetings aimed at establishing a ceasefire in Gaza. U.S. officials say that more aid must reach the residents of Gaza and that the delivery of this aid should continue for an extended period. Israel claims it has not restricted humanitarian aid to Gaza. On Thursday, Blinken stated in a press conference that 100% of Gaza's residents are struggling with severe food insecurity and that this trend should not continue. In contrast, Moshe Tetro, head of the Israeli Coordination Administration for Gaza, said the army believes there is no food shortage in Gaza. Other focal points of the Blinken-Netanyahu meeting included a potential Israeli invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza currently hosting more than half of the territory's population, who are living in temporary shelters. The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its opposition to an Israeli invasion of Rafah in recent weeks. On Monday, Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden in a phone call that the only way to completely defeat Hamas is to enter Rafah. Following the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the hostage-taking of over 250 others, Israel launched an invasion of Gaza aimed at destroying this Islamist group supported by the Islamic Republic. This invasion has caused the majority of Gaza's 2.3 million population to become displaced, urgently needing food and other essentials. Despite the devastating consequences of Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel, officials from the Islamist group have repeatedly emphasized that they will carry out similar attacks again if they are able. Hamas, without mentioning the number of its members killed as a result of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, claims that nearly 32,000 Palestinian residents of Gaza have been killed so far and about 73,000 others injured. The Persian section of Voice of America cannot independently verify or confirm the statistics provided. Meanwhile, Israel has repeatedly emphasized that Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields. The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, Israel, and several other countries have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. The Israeli army claims that 358 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been arrested at Shifa Hospital. The U.S. military continues to provide aid to Gaza's civilians, having delivered over 50,000 food packages from the air on Thursday. Blinken stated that the gaps between Israel and Hamas are narrowing, but serious challenges remain. The Islamic Resistance of Iraq claimed to have attacked electricity facilities in Tel Aviv, Israel. European leaders have called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza; Israel insists it is determined to control Rafah. Blinken and bin Salman met in Jeddah; the U.S. presented a draft resolution for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza to the Security Council.