Rafah offensive would put lives at risk, says Blinken

After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Washington's rejection of Israel's planned military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

"We share Israel's goal of defeating Hamas which is responsible for the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust," Blinken said before his departure.

But he added: "A major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it. It risks killing more civilians, it risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance. It risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long term security and standing."

The United States and other allies are critical of a potential Rafah offensive because, according to estimates, 1.5 million of the 2.2 million residents of the Gaza Strip are currently crowded together in a very small space in the city, which sits on the border with Egypt.

Netanyahu stressed that Israel's army has plans to bring people to safety before launching a ground offensive.

At the beginning of next week, Israel is to send high-level delegations to Washington to put the relevant plans on the table. The US, in turn, wants to bring options into play to defeat Hamas without a ground offensive in Rafah.

"We'll be able to lay out for them in detail," Blinken said on Friday. "I started to do that today."