Joe Biden hasn’t won sway with the Israeli War Cabinet over the issue of a Rafah invasion, as the cabinet has just unanimously voted to approve a deepening of the invasion of Rafah despite his threats to withhold weapons from the only Jewish state.
Here’s more from Ynet (translated from Hebrew):
The War Cabinet and the Political-Security Cabinet unanimously decided last night (Thursday) to continue the operation in Rafah and deepen it – despite the threats of the President of the United States Joe Biden to stop the transfer of some of the armaments to the IDF.
Today, Israeli tanks occupied the main road that separates the eastern and western half of Rafah , so that they practically surround the entire eastern side of the city in the southern Gaza Strip. At the start of the operation, tanks already surrounded Mizrah Rafah from the south, and took control of the Rafah crossing between the city and Egypt.
At the moment, it seems that the leading claim in Israel is that only the continuation of military pressure in Rafah can bring about a change in Hamas’ stubborn position in the negotiations for a hostage deal, thereby increasing the chance of a deal.
The terrorist organization, we will recall, refuses to commit to returning 33 abductees alive in the first phase of the deal, claiming that it does not know if it has enough of those who meet the parameter (women, soldiers, adults, sick and wounded). In addition, he demands an actual Israeli commitment in the second phase to end the war – something that Israel is not ready for.
Since this morning, 11 rockets and rockets were fired from Rafih and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip – three of them at Eshkol at 9 am, two rockets at Kerem Shalom less than an hour later, two more rockets shortly before 11 o’clock at the IDF force in the southern Gaza Strip, and half an hour later An hour – four more rockets. Some of the launches were intercepted.
Ynet also reports in English that Israel has informed Egypt of their intent to expand operations in Rafah:
Israel informed Egypt that it intends to expand operations in Rafah, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar newspaper in Lebanon reported on Friday. A Cairo official told the paper that Israel plans to tackle each area of Rafah separately in order to avoid direct conflict with the U.S.