A full-scale Israeli offensive in Rafah would cause “chaos” without eliminating Hamas, warned US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken on Sunday. For its part, Hamas described US President Joe Biden’s statements on the hostages the previous day as “a setback” for truce negotiations.
An all-out Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would provoke “anarchy” without eliminating Hamas, the United States secretary of state said Sunday, while agreeing that Israeli forces had killed more civilians than Hamas militants.
“Israel’s on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,” Secretary Antony Blinken told NBC’s Meet the Press.
Asked on CBS whether the US concurred with a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israeli forces had killed more civilians than Hamas militants since the war began on October 7, Blinken simply replied, “Yes, we do.”
He also confirmed that the hold President Joe Biden has placed on weapons to Israel – as the US continues pressing it to do more to protect civilians and to avoid an all-out invasion of Rafah – remained limited to 3,500 “high-capacity” bombs.
Post-war plans
Blinken said the US was continuing to press Israeli leaders to provide a plan for Gaza once the war is finally over.
“We also haven’t seen a plan for what happens the day after this war in Gaza ends,” he told NBC, adding, “We’ve been talking to them about a much better way of getting an enduring result.”
Blinken said Hamas militants had already returned to certain areas of northern Gaza that Israel had “liberated.”
A full-scale invasion, he said on CBS, could come “potentially at an incredibly high cost.”
And, he added, Israel “will be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency.”
Asked about the State Department report issued Friday that said Israel likely has violated norms of international law in its use of US weapons, Blinken said there was still too little evidence to warrant ending all military support.
The chaotic and dangerous conditions of an ongoing war, he said, made it “very difficult” to determine exactly what was happening, or what weapons were used, in any specific action.
A ‘setback’
Remarks by US President Joe Biden that a ceasefire in Gaza would be possible if Hamas released its hostages are a “setback” to negotiations, the Palestinian militant goup said Sunday.
“We condemn this position by the US president, we consider it a setback from the outcomes of the latest round of negotiations, which led to the movement’s agreement to the proposal put forward by mediators,” Hamas said in a statement.
Biden said on Saturday that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war would be possible “tomorrow” if Hamas gave up hostages seized in its October 7 attack.
The US president raised the topic of the hostages during a speech in Seattle after warning Israel he would stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons if it sends ground troops into the city of Rafah.
Negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a truce and hostage exchange deal, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US, appear to have stalled amid Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city.
Hamas said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “rushed to overturn” the talks by launching an offensive in Rafah.
The militant group accused the Israeli government of “escalating their brutal massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip” and “reaffirming their pursuit of continuing the genocidal war in Gaza.”
Israel defied international opposition this week and sent tanks and troops into eastern Rafah, effectively shutting a key aid crossing.
On Saturday, the Israeli military expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah and said 300,000 Palestinians had left the area.
With AFP
