WASHINGTON — President Biden “reiterated” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday that he does not want Israel to invade the Hamas-controlled city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip — following reports that the US has frozen ammunition shipments to deter such an attack.
Biden, 81, placed the call on Holocaust Remembrance Day, when Israelis pause to remember the genocide of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II.
The call also took place one day before the seven-month anniversary of Hamas terrorists invading southern Israel and killing around 1,200 people — including 33 Americans — on Oct. 7 in the worst ant-Jewish massacre since the war.
“The president reiterated his clear position on Rafah,” the White House said, referring to Biden and his top officials’ consistent warnings to Netanyahu not to attack Rafah, Hamas’ final major area of control, without a well-developed plan to relocate more than 1 million Palestinians believed to be in the area.
The White House said Biden also “updated the Prime Minister on efforts to secure a hostage deal, including through ongoing talks today in Doha, Qatar.”
“The Prime Minister agreed to ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing [at the border between Gaza, Israel and Egypt] is open for humanitarian assistance for those in need,” the readout also said.
Israel had closed the crossing Sunday after an attack claimed by Hamas that killed three members of the Israel Defense Forces. Officials said said 10 projectiles were launched from Rafah toward the area of the crossing, used to transmit aid from Israel into the Palestinian enclave.
Israel is warning residents of eastern Rafah, many of whom fled fighting elsewhere, that they should relocate immediately — and the UNRWA, a United Nations agency set up for Palestinian aid, said that as of Monday about 200 people were complying hourly, the New York Times reported.
Biden and Netanyahu have had an increasingly tense relationship as the US president’s re-election prospects have dimmed due to opposition to the Israeli invasion by important Democratic constituencies, including younger voters, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans.
On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected international pressure to halt the conflict, warning that “if Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
“I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself,” he said, speaking in English at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial.
“Never again is now.”
