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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

US, Israel to discuss alternatives to military operation in Rafah on April 1 — Axios

A second meeting, in person, is expected to take place next week

WASHINGTON, April 1. /TASS/. US and Israeli officials are expected to hold a virtual meeting on April 1 to discuss Washington’s alternative proposals to an Israeli military operation in Rafah, Axios reported, citing Israeli and US officials.

US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan, representatives from the Pentagon, State Department and the US intelligence agencies will participate from the US side. The Israeli side is set to be represented by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, and defense and intelligence officials.

A second meeting, in person, is expected to take place next week.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel continues to prepare for an operation in Rafah, a city on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. According to Netanyahu, he has already communicated to the US that it is impossible to defeat Hamas without a ground operation in the enclave and to achieve a final victory over the radicals without bringing troops into Rafah. On March 17, the prime minister announced plans to conduct this operation in a few weeks. He said that operational plans for action in that city had already been approved. The US insists that Israel should not start major operations in Rafah until it has prepared evacuation plans and provided all necessary assistance to the city’s population.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started striking the enclave and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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