Joe Biden warns Israel against Rafah offensive without ‘credible plan’ for civilians, as Benjamin Netanyahu remains defiant
President Joe Biden has warned Israel against launching a military operation in Rafah, southern Gaza, without a “credible” plan to protect civilians, the White House said on Sunday.
Mr Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday amid Israel’s plans for an offensive in the region that borders Egypt, to the south of the strip.
Despite the call, however, Mr Netanyahu appeared defiant during an interview with ABC News on Sunday.
Netanyahu doubles down on Rafah plans; follow Middle East latest
Speaking to the US network he said: “We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah.”
Mr Netanyahu said the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) believe there are four Hamas cells operating inside Rafah.
But he assured that the IDF would only carry out the operation “while providing safe passage for the civilian population”, without suggesting when it might take place.
Joe Biden inside the White House on 9 February. Pic: AP
The latest Israeli military strategy has triggered widespread condemnation across the globe.
Mr Biden previously said Israel’s response to the 7 October attacks has been “over the top”.
Egypt, which borders the region and operates the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, said such an offensive would violate international law and risk a refugee crisis spilling over into its territory.
It has threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel, the Camp David Accords, which are a key source of stability in the Middle East, if Mr Netanyahu goes ahead with his plan.
When Israeli ground troops first entered Gaza last year, they told the strip’s population to clear the north in less than 24 hours and move south towards areas like Rafah.
Some 1.4 million Gazas have now relocated there, mostly in makeshift camps or ‘tent cities’.
Displaced Palestinians take shelter in a tent camp in Rafah. Pic: Reuters
The site of an Israeli strike in Rafah. Pic: Reuters
Asked where these people could be expected to move again, Mr Netanyahu said there were areas north of Rafah city “already cleared by the IDF”.
During his interview with ABC News, Mr Netanyahu claimed that not moving on Rafah would result in Israel losing the war.
But, he said, if the operation does happen “victory is in reach”.
Asked what victory meant, he added: “You don’t have to kill every last terrorist… you have to dismantle Hamas as a military force.”
Families shelter at the Gaza border with Egypt in Rafah, south of the strip on 10 February. Pic: Reuters
He was also quizzed on the remaining Israeli hostages still inside Gaza. In response, he said that he believes there are enough people still missing “to warrant the kind of efforts we are doing.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says over 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, mostly women and children, and more than 67,000 people have been wounded.
Israel declared war after several thousand Hamas militants assaulted southern Israel, killing 1,300 and taking 250 hostages, not all of whom have survived.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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