Blinken: Rafah offensive risks ‘further isolating Israel, jeopardizing its long-term security’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterates the Biden administration’s warning against Israel launching a major ground offensive in Rafah, just before boarding a plane to depart after a day of meetings with top government officials in Tel Aviv.

Blinken asserts that the US shares Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas and ensuring its long-term security, but that a Rafah operation “is not the way to do it.”

“It risks killing more civilians. It risks wreaking greater havoc with the delivery of humanitarian assistance. It risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing,” Blinken tells reporters on the Ben Gurion Airport tarmac.

The top US diplomat says Washington will present “a different way” for Jerusalem to achieve its objectives when an Israeli delegation comes to Washington next week.

“It really requires an integrated humanitarian, military and political plan,” Blinken says.

In first announcing the administration’s firm opposition to a Rafah operation earlier this week, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Israel “smashing into Rafah” would be an extension of an already flailing plan, which has seen Hamas return to areas cleared by the IDF because Jerusalem lacks a viable strategy for replacing the terror group in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that “total victory” against Hamas is possible, but that it requires Israel going into Rafah in order to dismantle Hamas’s remaining battalions in the southern Gaza city where over one million people are sheltering after heeding Israeli directives to flee areas to the north.

Blinken tells reporters that he met again with the families of the hostages while in Tel Aviv. “It’s hard to describe what they’re going through every single day.”

He reiterates that negotiators have made progress in recent weeks, “closing gaps” between Israel and Hamas, but Blinken acknowledges that the final steps of the talks are always the hardest and a lot more work still needs to be done.

The US secretary of state says he again pressed Israel on getting more humanitarian aid distributed throughout Gaza. “One hundred percent of the population of Gaza is acutely food insecure. One hundred percent is in need of humanitarian assistance,” he reiterates.

“There have been some positive steps taken in recent days to improve the situation, but it’s not enough. We talked about what needs to happen to get much more assistance to many more people more effectively,” Blinken says.